Organizations Lack Advanced MFT Controls as Governance Gaps Drive Security Failures

New Kiteworks report reveals critical gaps in managed file transfer security and data governance practices

SAN MATEO, CA, UNITED STATES, October 9, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Kiteworks, which empowers organizations to effectively manage risk in every send, share, receive, and use of private data, today released its 2025 Data Security and Compliance Risk: Annual MFT Survey Report—finding that organizations with mature data governance practices demonstrate significantly fewer managed file transfer (MFT) security incidents, while many organizations lack advanced data protection capabilities in their MFT deployments.

The Kiteworks report reveals that while organizations implement basic controls, they fail at the advanced capabilities and governance foundations that differentiate secure operations from vulnerable ones. "Private data exchange isn't about basic security anymore—it's about governance maturity and advanced threat protection," said Tim Freestone, CMO at Kiteworks. "Organizations check compliance boxes while missing fundamental governance. They can't tell you where sensitive files are stored, who accessed them last week, or how they move between systems. Without this visibility, even sophisticated security tools become expensive decorations."

The report also reveals a dangerous pattern of risk miscalibration: organizations rank critical security controls like patching as merely "very important" (3.71 priority score) rather than "extremely critical" (3.05), despite experiencing a 59% incident rate. This moderate risk stance extends across all security domains, with organizations preferring balanced approaches over the urgency their threat landscapes demand.

Advanced Security Gap: Where Modern Attacks Succeed
The research exposes how organizations remain vulnerable to sophisticated file-based attacks despite claims of security maturity. The governance gap compounds this vulnerability. While many organizations use basic antivirus and DLP, these tools often operate in isolation. Without unified governance, organizations can't answer fundamental questions: How many files contain sensitive data? Which third parties accessed them? What's our exposure if this vendor is compromised? Some organizations don't even know how many suppliers handle their data, exemplifying this blindness.

Integration failures create additional exposure. When organizations lack SIEM/SOC integration for MFT, security teams monitor everything except file transfers—often the most sensitive data movements. Modern attacks exploit these blind spots, moving laterally through file shares while security teams watch network perimeters.

Emerging AI threats compound these vulnerabilities. While 48% of organizations have begun addressing AI-related risks, 26% have already experienced AI-related data incidents, and 30% still permit uncontrolled AI usage with sensitive files—creating new attack vectors in already vulnerable systems.

"The data shows a troubling pattern," explained Patrick Spencer, SVP, Americas and Industry Marketing at Kiteworks. "Organizations with mature governance achieve substantially better audit logging effectiveness compared to those without. They demonstrate markedly improved third-party risk management and enhanced security awareness. This isn't correlation—it's the multiplier effect of knowing your data."

Governance Maturity: The Hidden Differentiator
The research reveals dramatic performance gaps based on governance maturity. Organizations with minimal governance show significantly higher rates of inconsistent encryption compared to those with mature practices. Even moderate governance reduces encryption gaps substantially, while mature governance organizations experience issues in only a small fraction of cases.

This governance impact cascades across all security domains. Third-party risk management maturity improves dramatically with proper governance. Incident response capability and security awareness effectiveness show similar transformative improvements. These aren't incremental improvements—they're transformative leaps that explain why some organizations sail through audits while others fail repeatedly.

Industry patterns reinforce the governance divide. Financial services organizations demonstrate balanced governance implementation, achieving lower incident rates. Government agencies show the opposite extreme: strong policy frameworks but limited implementation of encryption at rest, resulting in higher rates of unauthorized access attempts. Healthcare's focus on transit encryption while protecting limited data at rest exemplifies how governance gaps create critical vulnerabilities.

Advanced Threats Demand Advanced Controls
Traditional security approaches fail against modern MFT threats. While many organizations claim thorough vendor evaluation, high incident rates prove checkbox assessments miss deeper vulnerabilities. Advanced attackers target the weakest link in the file transfer chain, exploiting poor governance to move laterally through partner networks.

The research shows organizations without advanced controls face cascading failures. Without proper data classification, they can't apply appropriate protections. Missing integration means they can't correlate attacks across systems. The result: incidents become breaches, and breaches become disasters.

Governance Multiplier Effect
Organizations with mature data governance don't just perform better—they transform security economics. The research identifies five governance capabilities that predict success:
1. Comprehensive data discovery and classification enables organizations to identify every sensitive touchpoint and apply appropriate controls
2. Continuous data flow mapping tracks files from creation to destruction, enabling instant audit responses
3. Dynamic access control ties permissions to data classification, not static roles
4. Real-time vendor governance assesses partner security postures continuously
5. Governance metrics provide early warning of control degradation before incidents occur

When these capabilities combine, organizations see multiplicative improvements. Encryption becomes comprehensive because they know what to protect. Integration works because they understand data flows. Organizations with mature governance practices have discovered this multiplier effect.

"The path forward requires fundamental shifts," concluded Freestone. "Stop buying tools and start building governance. Know where every sensitive file lives, how it moves, and who touches it. Deploy advanced controls for genuine protection against modern threats. Integrate security tools to eliminate blind spots. The significant incident reduction for organizations with mature governance proves the payoff. In today's threat landscape, governance isn't overhead—it's survival."

Read the full MFT Survey Report here: https://www.kiteworks.com/data-security-compliance-risk-mft-report.

About Kiteworks
Kiteworks' mission is to empower organizations to effectively manage risk in every send, share, receive, and use of private data. The Kiteworks platform provides customers with a Private Data Network that delivers data governance, compliance, and protection. The platform unifies, tracks, controls, and secures sensitive data moving within, into, and out of their organization, significantly improving risk management and ensuring regulatory compliance on all private data exchanges. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Kiteworks protects over 100 million end-users and over 1,500 global enterprises and government agencies.

David Schutzman
Kiteworks
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