Despite spending millions on cybersecurity budgets, companies continue to suffer damaging breaches. The recent cyberattack on United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) is a sobering reminder that money alone doesn’t equal security.
UNFI, one of the largest wholesale distributors in North America, was forced to shut down parts of its network after a sophisticated breach disrupted operations and threatened sensitive systems. This isn’t an isolated case—it’s part of a growing trend where enterprises, despite having top-tier tools funded by substantial cybersecurity budgets, remain vulnerable.
So, what’s going wrong in the realm of cybersecurity?
The Illusion of Safety: Where Security Dollars Are Going—and Failing
Here are five critical areas where companies are heavily investing in cybersecurity budgets, yet see little to no return in true enhanced protection.
1. Outdated Perimeter Defenses
Despite today’s cloud-first and remote-enabled environments, many organizations still pour money into firewalls, VPNs, and web gateways designed for on-premises networks. These tools are great at blocking traffic from the “outside,” but offer little protection when attackers are already inside—through stolen credentials, phishing, or third-party access.
2. Too Many Tools, Too Little Integration
It’s common to see enterprises stacking multiple security products: endpoint protection, SIEMs, intrusion detection, threat feeds, and more. The goal is “layered security,” but in practice, this creates silos, redundancy, and complexity. Tools that don’t communicate can miss correlations, leading to slower detection and poor response. More isn’t always better—especially if the layers don’t work together.
3. Underperforming Endpoint and Identity Security
Companies often invest in basic antivirus or patch management, assuming they’re covering endpoints. Meanwhile, identity and access management (IAM) gets minimal attention. In reality, identity is the new perimeter—and without strong authentication controls, attackers can move freely with compromised credentials. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) and behavioral analysis are frequently underused or poorly implemented, despite sufficient cybersecurity budgets.
4. SIEMs and Alerts Without Action
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms are meant to centralize data and generate alerts. But if companies don’t invest in the people, processes, and automation to act on those alerts, they become expensive log collectors. Many breaches, including UNFI’s, show that alerts were either missed, misunderstood, or not escalated in time.
5. Compliance Over Real Security
Many companies spend on tools to pass audits rather than reduce risk, frequently diverting cybersecurity budgets to compliance standards. Meeting PCI-DSS, HIPAA, or SOC 2 requirements is often prioritized over deploying effective, real-world defense mechanisms. But being compliant doesn’t stop attackers—it only satisfies regulators.
The Problem with “Layered Security”
The idea of layering tools for defense sounds smart—until it isn’t. Here’s why:
- Overlapping tools can conflict, introducing gaps or redundancies.
- False positives multiply, overwhelming security teams with noise.
- Each new layer adds complexity, increasing the chances of misconfiguration.
- Attackers exploit the weakest layer, rendering others ineffective.
Modern attacks don’t follow a linear path. They pivot, adapt, and blend in. Relying on isolated, layered tools is like building a castle with 10 gates—if one is left open, the others don’t matter.
Instead of more tools, companies need smarter, integrated, and forward-looking security architectures.
Looking Ahead: Quantum-Resistant Security Is No Longer Optional
While today’s networks struggle with existing threats, a new danger looms on the horizon: quantum computing.
Quantum machines could one day break widely-used encryption standards, such as RSA and ECC, threatening the confidentiality of data across the web. Forward-looking organizations are beginning to prepare for this shift by exploring quantum-resistant security technologies, including:
🔐 Quantum-Resistant Signatures
Algorithms like SPHINCS+ and XMSS offer durable digital signatures that remain secure even against quantum attacks. These can replace current authentication systems and ensure long-term integrity of software and transactions.
🔒 Post-Quantum Encryption
Lattice-based and hash-based encryption algorithms are emerging as strong candidates for future-safe communications. They protect data both in transit and at rest, even against the quantum threat.
🔁 Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)
While still early in its deployment, QKD offers a way to distribute cryptographic keys using principles of quantum physics—making eavesdropping virtually impossible.
