PKI SURVEY
96% of IT Security Executives Consider PKI Essential to Zero Trust Architecture
Pulse and Keyfactor surveyed 100 IT security executives in North America to better understand their security priorities, the challenges of implementing a Zero Trust strategy, and why public key infrastructure (PKI) and machine identities are a top priority.
As security is impacted by digital transformation, enterprises are allocating tech budget to PKI and cryptography in 2021.
Cloud-first/cloud migration (72%) is the top priority for IT security leaders, followed by remote workforce (65%) and improved digital customer experience (46%).


In 2021, the majority (92%) of organizations have allocated up to 20% of their tech budget to PKI and/or cryptography.
Tech gaps and cost are challenges to implementing zero trust, but it's largely on the rise as it mitigates risk and reduces complexity in the stack.
One-third (32%) of organizations have already adopted a Zero Trust strategy, with another 60% planning to in the next year.


The biggest challenges in implementing a Zero Trust model are technology gaps (73%) and cost concerns (69%).
The biggest advantages to having a Zero Trust strategy are that it mitigates security risk (68%), reduces complexity in the security stack (57%), and reduces time it takes to detect a breach (50%).

Although adoption is lagging, most executives agree PKI is essential to a Zero Trust security architecture.
Almost two-thirds (61%) of companies don't use PKI as part of their Zero Trust Strategy.


However, the majority (96%) of IT security leaders agree that PKI and digital certificates are essential to Zero Trust.
Organizations that have implemented PKI are focused on automation and moving to the cloud.
A quarter (24%) of organizations have automated their PKI and digital certificates, while another 71% are in the process of deployment or planning to.


While visibility is the most important PKI capability, almost half (49%) of IT security leaders are also focused on a cloud-first approach.
Over half (51%) of organizations have already moved up to 50% of their security infrastructure to the cloud.

Respondent Breakdown

