New Delhi, Aug. 25 -- Organisations today need to manage a multitude of computing devices, data, software applications, cloud-based assets, and more, all connected to each other and to the outside world. Every new addition and connection point needs to be protected. Over time, IT security teams end up juggling a collection of security tools, often from different vendors, each brought in to address a specific concern or gap. These tools all require continuous monitoring and management.

According to new research conducted by Vanson Bourne, which surveyed senior security decision-makers across IT and business roles in a wide range of industries in India, the security complexity of a modern organisation keeps over a third (37%) of security professionals awake at night.

The findings show that most organisations in India struggle with security sprawl: 71% of respondents overall believe their organisation is trying to juggle too many security tools and/or vendors.

More than half (57%) of those surveyed say their security tools can't be integrated with each other, creating fragmented environments that are difficult to manage and secure.

These under-managed IT security environments increase risk. For example, 80% of respondents report that the lack of security tool integration increases the time required to manage security, while 75% cited higher overall costs. Additionally, it significantly weakens threat defense capabilities, with 79% saying it hinders detection and 80% citing challenges in threat mitigation.

The hidden risk of misconfiguration

According to the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report, 30% of the data breaches resulting from human error last year involved misconfiguration.

With security attention often focused on the scale and sophistication of email-based social engineering, credential theft and malware exploits, it can be easy to overlook the fact that one incorrectly configured security or other tool can be all it takes to give attackers access to your network.

It's therefore concerning that only a minority (34%) of respondents are fully confident that their security tools are properly configured, leaving organisations vulnerable to breaches caused by hidden misconfigurations.

Removing complexity

For connected organisations, long-term cyber-resilient security depends on reducing complexity, enhancing visibility, consolidating and integrating security solutions - and getting to grips with the spiralling demands of security deployment and management and the daily wave of alerts and alarms.

For resource-constrained organisations, this is a daunting list. But it's not as intimidating as it looks - and here's why.

First, there are people and partners who have the skills and capacity to help.

More than half (53%) the organisations surveyed had asked a managed service provider to help them cope with the growing number of security tools they'd acquired. This proportion stayed the same regardless of the size of the organisation.

Second, there are advanced security platforms that take away the strain of integrating and managing solutions and detecting and responding to threats. These platforms enable IT security teams or their MSPs to catch issues before they become a problem - such as spotting misconfigured or inactive security tools.

The power of platform protection

There is a saying in cybersecurity that attackers only need to get it right once, while defenders need to get it right every time. An integrated cybersecurity platform makes that job easier by ensuring security teams can see what's going on across the board at any moment in time and address issues immediately.

An integrated platform streamlines and simplifies cybersecurity management, minimises security gaps and human errors, reduces the workload on IT teams and improves productivity.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from TechCircle.