Study: Endpoint Management Low Priority for IT Pros Despite Security Risks -

How many endpoints does your organization manage? If you don’t know, you’ve got company -- nearly one-third of IT professionals in a recent study don’t know either.

Combine that data point with roughly 90 percent of security professionals across North America and Europe contending that endpoint management is important and you have a noticeable disconnect in security coverage for multiple devices, according to LogMeIn’s new report, Uncovering the Harsh Realities of Endpoint Management: Bridging the gaps in multi-device security.

The report, in which LogMeIn, a Boston-based identity and access management software developer, surveyed 1,000 IT professionals from SMB and mid-sized organizations, focused on data security in the workplace.

Here’s some data from the survey:

While IT pros deem endpoint management a priority, only 52 percent of the respondents are doing something about it, leaving their organizations susceptible to a breach. Even though they’re cognizant of the security risks of managing multiple devices, that’s not prodding them to do more to address the issue, the study concluded.

IT teams are faced with multiple security risks but still don’t focus on proactive measures. They appear to have higher priorities, the study found. Some 58 percent of IT professionals consider malware as their top security concern, followed by ransomware at 48 percent and cloud security breaches at 40 percent.

30 percent of IT professionals do not know how many endpoint devices exist within their organization. Those who do know report an average of 750 endpoints including servers, employee computers and mobile devices.

71 percent of IT professionals claim they are actively addressing security on hardware but 44 percent are not actively addressing security on software and 52 percent are not addressing it on mobile devices.

Only 26 percent of IT professionals surveyed reported investing in automated monitoring and alerts, only 17 percent invest in anti-malware on mobile devices and 14 percent invest in third party patch management.

The lack of these important security measures are leaving their companies open to potential cyber-attacks, LogMeIn said. “Evolving workplace trends and new attack vectors are rapidly increasing the risk of security breaches for businesses of all sizes and our research shows that many aren’t doing all that they could to avoid becoming a victim,” said Sandor Palfy, LogMeIn's CTO of identity and access management. “Fortunately, there are ways to be proactive and take measures to ensure not a single threat goes unnoticed,” Palfy said, pointing to the vendor’s Central platform to automate endpoint management.