As we look toward 2020 and plan for the ongoing IT security skills shortage, we continue to rationalize the use of automation. Will it help reduce complexities and improve compliance? Are there more risks than rewards? With Gartner predicting that 99% of all firewall breaches will be caused by misconfigurations not flaws throughout 2023, it cant hurt to try?

FireMon uncovered in its recent 2019 State of the Firewall report that these misconfigurations are largely caused by human error and outdated, manual IT processes. With 65% of respondents not using any automation to manage their security policies, what does the future hold? Lets look at two sides of the automation coin to toss out some predictions.

If adoption is slow, then we will, unfortunately, see more of the same.

However, if automation becomes a top security priority in 2020, we could see:

If businesses do not automate their network security management processes, we can only expect an increase in misconfigurations and therefore more breaches, amongst other security challenges. By introducing the right amount of automation for their organizations current needs in 2020, security teams can mitigate the burden of human error and better utilize their security resources, without adding complexity to their security operations.

Want to learn more about what to expect in 2020? Join us Jan. 23 for our Predict 2020 Virtual Summitfeaturing discussions from some of the industrys best and brightest offering up their visions for the future. Sign up today for this free daylong virtual event.

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Predictions 2020: Is Security Automation the Answer? - Security Boulevard