Customer personal information is the number one data protection priority in Taiwan reports nCipher

Organizations racing to protect sensitive data as it proliferates across cloud, IoT devices and 5G networks

TAIPEI, Aug. 11, 2020 — The adoption of digital initiatives such as cloud, IoT and 5G networks is growing rapidly as the world adjusts to a "new work-from-home normal" amid the COVID-19 pandemic — with Taiwan being no exception. This brings even more attention to data protection and encryption strategies, with the protection of customer information the number one priority according to the 2020 Taiwan Encryption Trends Study published today by nCipher Security, an Entrust Datacard company and world leader in hardware security modules (HSMs), based on research by the Ponemon Institute.

The customer is king, but so too is intellectual property

Organizations in Taiwan have adopted enterprise encryption at a similar rate to their global counterparts: 46% have consistently applied an encryption plan/strategy, only slightly below the global average of 48%.

Protecting customer personal information is the major driver behind encryption adoption for respondents in Taiwan (62%), 8% higher than the global average. Following a close second is the protection of intellectual property (57%), well above the global average (52%). This is not surprising given the emphasis on intellectual property across the Taiwan market.

Data discovery the number one challenge

With the proliferation of data from digital initiatives, cloud use, mobility, IoT devices and 5G networks, data discovery is the biggest challenge in planning and executing a data encryption strategy, with 58% of respondents citing this as their top concern, 9% below the global average. Organizations in Taiwan also rate the challenge of initially deploying encryption technology lower than any other region, 31% vs. 44% globally.

On the other hand, respondents report greater difficulties in data classification (43%) and user training (23%), which are 12% and 9% above global averages respectively.

Trust, integrity, control

The use of hardware security modules (HSMs) to provide higher levels of trust, integrity and control for both data and applications stands at 39% for respondents in Taiwan. Most respondents (61%) say that HSMs are important as part of their organization’s encryption or key management activities, with the most prevalent use cases being application level encryption (42%) and encrypting data in the cloud.

The race to the cloud

Cloud is extremely popular in the region, with 86% of respondents reporting that they transfer sensitive data to the cloud, or plan to do so within the next 12 to 24 months. Nearly every responding organization (99%) rates support for both cloud and on-premise deployment from their encryption solutions as being important, significantly higher than the global average of 67%.

Organizations in Taiwan are also deploying HSMs for cloud use cases at much higher rates than many other regions, including the ownership and operation of HSMs to generate and manage Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) and integration with a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) to manage keys and cryptographic operations. Taiwan also has the highest planned increase in the use of HSMs in conjunction with public cloud-based applications over the next 12 months.

Looking ahead — blockchain, quantum and adoption of new encryption technologies

While the surge in remote working has increased the risk of data exposure, how are organizations looking ahead? In the near term, 65% of responding organizations plan to use blockchain, with asset transaction, identity, supply chain and smart contracts cited as the top use cases.

Other much-hyped technologies are not on Taiwan IT organizations’ near-term radar. Most IT professionals see the mainstream adoption of multi-party computation at least six years away, with mainstream adoption of homomorphic encryption nearly seven years away, and quantum resistant algorithms eight years out, all of which are in line with global trends.

"Consumers expect brands to protect their data from breaches and always have their best interests at heart. Our survey found that IT leaders take this trust very seriously, and often place protection of consumer data as a top priority when pursuing encryption growth," says Dr Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of Ponemon Institute. "Encryption use is at an all-time high right now, with 46% of respondents from Taiwan this year saying their organization has an encryption plan that is applied consistently across the entire enterprise, with a further 36% saying they have a basic plan or strategy applied to certain applications and data types."

"With ongoing digitalization, organizations are under relentless pressure to deliver high security, seamless access to protect customer data and business information, while ensuring reliable business continuity. The 2020 Taiwan Encryption Trends Study highlights how critical security and identity have become for organizations and individuals both in the workplace and at home," said Percy Tu, sales manager, Taiwan, nCipher Security. "nCipher empowers customers by providing a high assurance security foundation that ensures the integrity and trustworthiness of their data, applications and intellectual property."

Other key findings from the Taiwan Encryption Trends Study include:

Employee mistakes (58%) pose the greatest threat to data exposure, followed by temporary or contract workers (33%) and third-party service providers (27%). Conversely, hackers are seen as the lowest threat in Taiwan (17%, compared to 29% globally)
Encryption is deployed at higher rates than global averages for database use cases (69%), cloud gateways (49%) and private cloud infrastructure (46%)
Taiwan companies find encryption key management challenging to adopt (59%), with inadequate tools (54%), isolated and fragmented systems (49%) and lack of skilled personnel (49%) being the major reasons behind this

Download the 2020 Taiwan Encryption Trends Study

2020 Taiwan Encryption Trends Study methodology

The 2020 Taiwan Encryption Trends Study surveyed 302 IT professionals in Taiwan and is part of a larger global study, based on research by the Ponemon Institute. The report captures how organizations around the world are dealing with compliance, increased threats, and the implementation of encryption to protect their business-critical information and applications.

6,457 IT professionals were surveyed across multiple industry sectors in 17 countries/regions: Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Mexico, the Middle East (which is a combination of respondents located in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), the Russian Federation, Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam), South Korea, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, the United States and two new regions for the first time, Netherlands and Sweden.

Percy Tu, sales manager, Taiwan, nCipher Security

Percy Tu, sales manager, Taiwan, nCipher Security (Click here to download high-resolution image)

About nCipher Security

nCipher Security, an Entrust Datacard company, is a leader in the general-purpose hardware security module (HSM) market, empowering world-leading organizations by delivering trust, integrity and control to their business-critical information and applications. Today’s fast-moving digital environment enhances customer satisfaction, gives competitive advantage and improves operational efficiency — it also multiplies the security risks. Our cryptographic solutions secure emerging technologies such as cloud, IoT, blockchain, and digital payments and help meet new compliance mandates. We do this using our same proven technology that global organizations depend on today to protect against threats to their sensitive data, network communications and enterprise infrastructure. We deliver trust for your business-critical applications, ensure the integrity of your data and put you in complete control — today, tomorrow, always. www.ncipher.com

Photo – https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20200810/2880970-1?lang=0
Logo – https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20200810/2880970-1logo?lang=0