DigiCert has launched its 2024 State of Digital Trust Survey in APAC. The annual survey explores the trends and practices of enterprises worldwide in managing digital trust in their organisations. This year's report has highlighted the increasing divide between industry leaders and laggards.

According to the survey, the top 33% of digital trust leaders were able to effectively respond to outages and incidents and were better prepared for post-quantum cryptography. They generally showed improved digital innovation, higher workforce productivity, and better revenue. On the other hand, the bottom 33% of laggards found it challenging to enjoy the advantages of digital innovation and displayed comparatively poor performance across all covered categories.

Looking at the Asia Pacific region specifically, the survey found that 83% of the leaders had no compliance issues, compared to 80% of laggards. Similarly, 67% of leaders did not experience software supply chain compromises, contrasting with a significantly higher 20% amongst laggards. The research also revealed that the leaders are more likely to centrally manage their certificates, employ email authentication and encryption (S/MIME) technology, and generally show more mature practices in digital trust management.

The survey divided respondents into three groups based on a wide range of digital trust metrics: leaders, laggards and those in the middle. A considerable divergence in the results was observed between the groups. Leaders, for example, experienced far fewer problems with core enterprise systems. On the other hand, half of the laggards reported compliance issues or software supply chain compromises.

Another critical insight from the survey is that Asia Pacific organisations prioritising digital trust are better poised to confront potential threats such as quantum computing. An impressive 56% of leaders are prepared for post-quantum computing, compared to a meagre 7% of laggards. Additionally, 88% of leaders anticipate being ready to tackle this threat within 1-3 years, contrasting with only 34% of laggards projecting the same level of preparedness within a similar timeline.

"Digital trust is not merely a trend but a fundamental requirement in today's evolving landscape," said Armando Dacal, Group Vice President of APJ at DigiCert. "Our survey findings underscore the crucial role of digital trust in driving organisational success."

“The threat landscape continues to expand, as does the gap between organisations leading the way in digital trust and those falling behind," added Jason Sabin, CTO at DigiCert. Organisations in the middle ground need to guard against a false sense of security and take action."

Jennifer Glenn, Research Director, Security and Trust Group, IDC, also emphasised the importance of making digital trust a strategic imperative for businesses. "Companies focusing their efforts on digital trust benefit notably, including reliable uptime, reduced risk of data compromise, and improved user trust," she concluded.