Full Report
In 2020 ARC Advisory Group on behalf of Kaspersky conducted a survey on the state of industrial cybersecurity, as well as the current priorities and challenges of industrial organizations. More than 330 industrial companies and organizations across the globe were surveyed online and 10 industry representatives were interviewed at trade fairs and ARC forums worldwide.
Analysis Summary
# Industry News: Kaspersky/ARC 2020 Industrial Cybersecurity Survey Results
## Summary
Kaspersky, in collaboration with ARC Advisory Group, released their 2020 survey report detailing the state of industrial cybersecurity, highlighting the contemporary challenges and strategic priorities faced by industrial organizations globally. The research aggregated insights from over 330 industrial entities surveyed online, supplemented by expert interviews at major industry forums.
## Key Details
- Date: September 15, 2020
- Companies Involved: Kaspersky, ARC Advisory Group
- Category: Market Analysis and Trends Report
## The Story
The "State of Industrial Cybersecurity 2020" report, based on extensive global surveying and direct expert engagement, provides a benchmark assessment of the maturity, threat landscape, and investment priorities within the Operational Technology (OT) security sector as of 2020. This data is crucial for understanding the strategic focus areas for securing critical infrastructure amidst escalating digital transformation efforts.
## Business Impact
### For the Companies Involved
- **Kaspersky:** Reinforces its position as a thought leader and key data provider in the industrial control systems (ICS) security vertical, leveraging the authoritative data from ARC for marketing, product roadmap validation, and sales enablement.
- **ARC Advisory Group:** Solidifies its role as a primary source for credible, data-driven market intelligence in the industrial automation and control sectors.
### For Competitors
- Competitors are benchmarked against the findings, revealing potential gaps in industry awareness, investment priorities, or technological adoption across the surveyed organizations. This sets a dynamic standard for competitive reporting.
### For Customers
- Industrial organizations gain access to peer-validated insights, allowing them to benchmark their own security posture, justify budget requests based on industry norms, and align their technology purchasing decisions with prevalent threats and adopted best practices.
### For the Market
- Provides foundational data for investors, integrators, and technology vendors to assess the velocity of OT security adoption, identify underserved segments, and forecast future spending trends in industrial automation security.
## Technical Implications
While the summary only points to the existence of the report, the context implies a deep dive into technical areas such as threat frequency, vulnerability management practices, remote access security, and the integration of IT and OT security architectures, which were primary concerns in 2020.
## Strategic Analysis
- Market Positioning: The partnership between a leading security vendor (Kaspersky) and a respected industrial analyst firm (ARC) positions the resulting report as highly credible for shaping executive-level purchasing decisions within industrial segments.
- Competitive Advantage: The data provides Kaspersky with a distinct, evidence-based selling advantage by aligning their offerings directly with reported industry pain points.
- Challenges: The main challenge remains translating survey findings into actionable, ongoing security programs for organizations whose staff may lack the necessary expertise to fully address the identified risks.
## Industry Reactions
- Analyst opinions likely emphasized the growing convergence of IT/OT risks and the need for specialized security solutions tailored for deterministic environments.
- Market response would center on segmenting the data to understand regional variances in security maturity.
## Future Outlook
- The report serves as a critical baseline. Future analysis will keenly watch whether the identified challenges—such as lack of visibility or skills gaps—have narrowed or widened since the 2020 publication date, especially given subsequent geopolitical and pandemic-related shifts.
## For Security Professionals
Practitioners should use this report as an authoritative guide for gap analysis—comparing their organization's specific cybersecurity posture against the global and industry-specific norms detailed in the survey findings to prioritize remediation projects.