Unchecked proliferation of cybersecurity tools causing employee exhaustion and excessive alerts, warns new study.

In a recent study conducted by Trend Micro International, it has been revealed that the excessive use of security tools, often referred to as "cybersecurity tool sprawl," is causing confusion and increasing the risk of missing legitimate cyberattacks. The survey, based on the responses of 2,303 IT security decision makers across 21 countries, suggests that this issue is particularly prevalent in large organizations, with an average of 46 security monitoring tools deployed per organization.

The report advances previous research on the impact of alert fatigue, a condition where security teams are overwhelmed by the volume of alerts, causing them to ignore potential threats. However, the report does not specify the exact methods used to collect data for the survey or provide information on the specific types of cyberattacks that organizations may have missed due to alert fatigue or false positives.

Bharat Mistry, technical director at Trend Micro, emphasizes the serious issue of false positives, stating that they can lead to confusion for the security operations team as different tools may report the same incident in different ways. He also notes that sophisticated threat actors are turning everyday IT tools into weapons against a corporate environment, making them harder to detect.

The report further reveals that about half of the surveyed organizations have stopped using some security tools due to a lack of integration, skilled professionals, and difficulty operationalizing the tools. This finding underscores the challenge organizations face in managing their cybersecurity infrastructure effectively.

Interestingly, the Trend Micro International report names financial services organizations as those using the highest number of security monitoring tools, with an average of approximately 45 tools deployed per organization. This finding is concerning given the high-value targets these organizations represent for cybercriminals.

Despite the identified issues, the report does not provide information on potential solutions to address the issue of false positives and its associated risks, or the issue of cybersecurity tool sprawl and its impact on an organization's ability to detect and respond to cyberattacks in a timely manner.

In conclusion, the Trend Micro report highlights a significant challenge facing global organizations today – the excessive use of security tools leading to alert fatigue, confusion, and the potential for missing legitimate cyberattacks. As cyber threats continue to evolve, it is crucial for organizations to find effective strategies to manage their cybersecurity toolset and ensure their security teams are equipped to respond to threats effectively.

Unchecked proliferation of cybersecurity tools causing employee exhaustion and excessive alerts, warns new study.