Organizations often focus on the potential benefits of emerging technologies, increasingly, the idea of getting involved in high-profile tech trends that include big-data, cloud computing, BYOD, and mobility, increasingly feeds a focus on security.
In fact, more than half (52 percent) of organizations report that these new technologies and fear of data breaches surpass even compliance as a driver, according to a study released last week by Vormetric. Tina Stewart, vice president of marketing at Vormetric, said in a press release:
The security landscape has evolved considerably over the past 18 months. With advanced persistent threats recurring headline news, and as more organisations embrace the merits of cloud computing and Big Data, it is essential that enterprises ensure their IT infrastructure is geared up to keep pace with the changing market.
Organizations are coming to realize that compliance, while important, may not be the most important driver of security. Vormetric’s Protect What Matters — Data Security survey, which polled more than 450 people, identified the need to protect the organization’s brand (64 percent) and observing security best-practices (32 percent) should motivate data protection efforts. Compliance, meanwhile, captured only 22 percent of the votes, putting it in third place.
The good news is that more money is being allocated to initiatives that support a strong security stance. In fact, 42 percent of those surveyed said that security budgets are on the rise, while 39 percent said that budgets have remained the same. Only six percent experienced a funding downturn. “Organizations are putting more money toward data security,” Steward told IFSEC Global in an interview. “The combination of new technology challenges with a variety of news breaking data breaches means that the threat is becoming very real for people.”
Increasingly, organizations are starting to understand that cybercriminals are monetizing data stolen from organizations — and that they are heavily focused on maintaining a stream of saleable information. “In the underground market economy, data is money, and much like any other market economy, principles of supply and demand drive it,” said Ed Ferrara, principal analyst at Forrester Research in a January 2013 report titled “Measure The Effectiveness Of Your Data Privacy Program.” Simple identity theft pays about $2,000, on average, but a thief using a medical ID number can earn an average payout of $20,000 for a medical record.”
With that in mind, spending is largely focused on protecting data and identifying technologies that work to stop or mitigate sophisticated attacks, such as advanced persistent threats (APTs) or malicious insiders, focusing on capturing corporate data. Encryption with access controls tops the list for locking down data, while many organizations add log management and database activity monitoring (DAM) to identify unusual usage patterns that indicate a problem, the study found.
Let’s discuss amongst ourselves. How have these technology trends impacted your organization’s corporate IT security policy? Where do you think we’ll be in the coming year?
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