Netskope Majority of State & Local Government Agencies Struggle to Modernize Data Protection for Cloud-Centric Use Cases

Netskope, a leader in Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) unveiled research findings showing that despite continued investment in cloud technologies, State and Local Government Information Technology (IT) leaders face challenges in keeping up with modern data protection needs.

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The findings are highlighted in a new Netskope survey assessing the most critical challenges facing business influencers and decision makers in State and Local Government Information Technology. Top priorities for these IT decision makers are vulnerability management (61%), along with data protection (50%), and security event and incident management (44%). To address these issues, the majority of state and local agency officials (58%) say they intend to move away from legacy applications within the next three years, replacing on-premises data centers and hybrid environments with the latest innovative cloud services and solutions.

A linking factor in modernization challenges, however, remains the ability to adequately protect data across cloud environments. Specifically:

• 79% of respondents face challenges in tracking their data locations across their agency
• Over half (52%) can’t see traffic across all applications being used in their system and nor do they have a complete view of all data across silos
• 45% of respondents say lack of visibility across their hybrid environments is challenging
• 40% say disparate data sources across servers and siloes also pose challenges
• 78% cite difficulty tracking data spread over multiple siloes
• 76% cite difficulty tracking who has accessed that data

“Part of agency modernization means having the tools at the ready for better understanding, analysis, and protection of the data your agency owns,” said Tom Gosse, senior sales director of U.S. SLED at Netskope. “Without being able to fully understand where the data is being gathered, where it resides, and when it’s being accessed or transferred, state and local agency decision makers will find it increasingly difficult to identify and implement a solution that can effectively and efficiently address any gaps or vulnerabilities. They should prioritize investment in modern, cloud-centric data protection that can adequately protect data across cloud environments.”

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The Other Big Challenge: Complexity

State and local agencies have been challenged over the last several years to keep up with public expectations while balancing security needs and budget restrictions. The majority (65%) are actively investing in technology solutions that support their organization’s needs; however, even with standardized tools, the IT landscape is growing increasingly complicated. Over half (51%) of respondents say that IT systems are becoming very complex to manage, and 41% say it is difficult for their agencies to process and analyze data that is accumulating more rapidly than ever. The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT), cloud-based computing, and machine learning have all opened the door for a deluge of new ways to collect more data. Amplifying these priorities are the internal personnel challenges agencies are facing, including a lack of internal staff expertise (44%).

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