Security tool adoption jumps, Okta report shows

Identity and access management (IAM) vendor Okta today released a report detailing app use and security trends among its broad user base. Among other trends it identified, the report found that zero trust security policies have become more common, and uptake of a wide range of security tools has been sharply on the rise.

Okta survyed 17,000 customers globally, and found that zero trust usage among its  clients has increased from 10% two years ago to 22% today, indicating both that the philosophy is more popular than ever, and that a wide swathe of the market is still there to be captured, according to the report.

Technology companies are the leaders in zero trust adoption, Okta said, with 34% deploying at least one system in a zero trust configuration, and 7% deploying two. The finance and banking sector is also a popular area for zero trust deployments, with 26% using at least one zero trust configuration, and 5% with two.

Security tools, from mobile device management (MDM) to training apps, are increasingly big sellers across the board, Okta’s report found. VPN and firewall tools, unsurprisingly, were the single largest category, with 31% year-over-year growth in customers. Endpoint management and security applications were close behind, however, at 25% growth. The individual app with the fastest growth among Okta users in the past year, according to the report, was Kandji, an MDM app for iOS and Mac. That app gained 172% more customers over the past year.

Also growing fast, as mentioned, were sales of security training tools like KnowBe4 and Proofpoint Security Awareneness Training, which are up by a whopping 436% over the past four years. In light of the increase in ransomware attacks, that number is fully understandable. Infrastructure monitoring and server access tools, as well, are on the rise, posting 66% and 75% growth in customers over the last two years respectively.

http://www.computerworld.com/category/security/index.rss