Global information security spend is projected to reach $215 billion by the end of 2024. But a new survey of chief information security officers (CISOs) shows that all that cash might not have bought the peace of mind they hoped for. In fact, 44% of CISOs across the globe reported missing a data breach in the past 12 months with existing tools.

The top blind spot identified in the survey of 234 global CISOs was hybrid cloud infrastructure and data-in-transit, which eight out of 10 of those surveyed by Gigamon said is a "top concern." Gigamon's report added that data-in-motion is where 93% of malware has historically hidden. Overwhelmingly, 84% of surveyed CISOs said getting visibility into this encrypted traffic was a top priority for the upcoming year.

"Modern cybersecurity is about differentiating between acceptable and unacceptable risk," Chaim Mazal, CSO at Gigamon, said in the survey report. "Our research shows where CISOs are drawing that line, highlighting the critical importance of visibility into all data-in-motion to secure complex hybrid cloud infrastructure against today's emerging threats. It's clear current approaches aren't keeping pace, which is why CISOs must reevaluate tool stacks and reprioritize investments and resources to more confidently secure their infrastructure."

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Deep observability into hybrid cloud environments is top of mind for 82% of surveyed CISOs. And 85% of those surveyed would like to gain visibility into packet-level and application metadata. Boards too agree that this deep observability is critical, with 81% of CISOs reporting hybrid cloud infrastructure will be a budgeting priority in 2025.

"Today's CISOs recognize that security and observability are intrinsically connected," Stephen Elliott, group vice president, IT operations, observability, and CloudOps at IDC, said in the report. "The network provides a crucial layer of context that can inform security operations and vice versa, which is why modern security teams are leveraging network-derived intelligence and insights to understand the true impact of a threat and prioritize their responses accordingly."

But before CISOs start spending on new tools, they plan to get the most out of what they already have, according to the survey. Three-quarters of those CISOs surveyed reported being "overwhelmed" by the growing number of tools and their alerts. So to get a better handle on hybrid cloud data and infrastructure, for instance, 60% of CISOs said their top priority for 2025 will be to consolidate and optimize existing tools for that arena.