68% of Sysadmins Say Their Organizations Faced Increased Risk of Cybersecurity Attacks Due to the Shift to Remote Work

Netwrix, a cybersecurity vendor that makes data security easy, announced the release of its 2021 Netwrix Sysadmin Report dedicated to the annual System Administrator Appreciation Day. It summarizes feedback from 732 IT professionals worldwide about their work challenges, and also offers valuable tidbits of wisdom they shared.

Netwrix asked respondents to choose their top three challenges caused by the recent shift to remote work. 68% of sysadmins noted that they are worried about the increasing number of cyberattacks and data breaches, and 66% said their workload increased as a result. More than a third (38%) picked lack of tools to support remote work as a top challenge.

Other survey findings include:

40% of sysadmins who are concerned about rapidly evolving cyber threats admit that remote work diverted their attention away from security tasks.
29% say that they are more focused on cybersecurity than they were pre-pandemic.
79% of sysadmins from the financial, retail and healthcare industries work more than 40 hours a week.
51% of respondents say that the average salary for sysadmins in the UK and US is lower than expected.
73% say their life would be easier if users would stop clicking on suspicious links or attachments.

“System administrators play a vital role in protecting their organization’s data. Throughout the deep disruption of the past year, sysadmins were the ones battling to hold up the sky for businesses,” said Ilia Sotnikov, Security Strategist & VP of User Experience at Netwrix. “IT teams truly need support in this battle, starting with basic privacy mindfulness from every employee and ending with investment in tools and other resources to help prioritize risks, spot threats to valuable data and simplify data security.”

Here are some of the insights that respondents shared in the survey:

“IT security is only as effective as the weakest end user. Users who click every link and download all files are like Kryptonite for security.”
“This job requires constant research; what you see is just the top of the iceberg.”
“I have patience beyond my years.”
“My dream vacation is to spend a month in Bordeaux at the finest chateaux.”

To get the complete findings of the 2021 Netwrix Sysadmin Report, please visit: www.netwrix.com/2021_sysadmin_report.html

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