Half of UK Firms Admit to Unknown Network Devices

Almost three million UK businesses could be exposing themselves to cyber-threats by having unknown devices on their network, according to new Forescout research. The security vendor polled over 500 IT decision makers in the UK to better understand their exposure to IoT threats. It found that half (49%) of respondents have unknown third-party devices on their networks. That represents over 2.8 million businesses at official 2018 levels. The figure is up slightly in percentage terms on the vendor’s April 2018 findings, although it could represent as many as 110,000 extra firms using the same extrapolation. The findings come despite a vast majority of IT decision makers (85%) admitting that a lack of visibility and control of devices on their network poses a security risk. These challenges are only set to increase as enterprises witness an explosion of IoT endpoints. Gartner predicts that there will be over 20 billion connected things in use worldwide by 2020, with business spend representing nearly half of the total, at over $1.4tn.