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EDITOR’S QUESTION
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SAGAN PILLAY, SECURITY
SOLUTION STRATEGIST, CA
SOUTHERN AFRICA
C
ybersecurity threats have
significantly increased in 2017
– this is not news to anybody
but I believe that this upward trend
will continue through 2018. Malware
attacks could be the most popular of
cyberattacks for 2018.
Developing malware has become a
career opportunity in many parts of
the world and we are on the verge of
seeing the next greatest disruptive
occurrence. Organisations must
focus on examining their IT security
processes and identify weaknesses.
They must then implement adequate
controls with clearly defined processes
and procedures that are designed to
support the implementation of said
controls. Also having a clearly defined
plan of action in place that outlines
what to do in the event of a cyber
breach, is crucial.
For example, no business will take
chances with the lives of staff by
not conducting regular fire drills so
that employees are familiar with
evacuation processes. Cyberattacks
should be no different! Drills are
needed to ensure that executives know
how to react in the event of an attack
and processes in place that isolate the
threat quickly and minimise data loss
plus consumer impact.
I believe that 2018 will see
companies focusing more on
adaptive authentication that invokes
strong verification and session
assurance. With organisations
allowing contractors, vendors, and
www.intelligentcio.com
“
2018 WILL SEE
COMPANIES
FOCUSING MORE
ON ADAPTIVE
AUTHENTICATION
THAT INVOKES
STRONG
VERIFICATION
AND SESSION
ASSURANCE.
partners to use their own devices on the
company’s network, the risk of breach has
greatly increased.
Technologies that enable more seamless
customer experiences will continue to
drive the digital economy. A strong drive
for management of the population’s
identities has been at play for a while now
and will soon start being visibly noticeable
across government institutions. Along with
enhanced consumer experiences and more
accurate billing services reducing long
queues for consumers.
There are two areas that are likely to see the
most the growth, namely, malware attacks
and artificial intelligence with companies
scrambling to implement strategies aimed at
negating the threat.
Malware attacks will increase overall but
political and corporate espionage, aimed
at disrupting competition, will also be on
the rise.
Artificial intelligence is the driving factor
in multiple areas for digitally transforming
businesses. Machine and behaviour learning
will provide the cutting edge to any business
that embraces it.
The ability to analyse big data and provide
insight into what the customer needs even
before they have made a request will be the
competitive differentiating factor as it is
the essence of consistent quality consumer
experiences. Knowing user behaviour allows
IT security to dynamically react.
With analytics advancing and companies
competing neck and neck for consumer
business this is likely to be more visible to
our younger audiences’ experiences as well,
and parents need to be weary of marketing
content that minors may be exposed to via
smart devices etc.
Whilst we embrace digital transformation
and openness we need to ensure we don’t
freely invite the wrong elements. Some of
the older, more traditional security principles
need to be brought back into play, such
as isolated device networks or also known
as zero trust (ZT) networks. The latter are
designed specifically around securing an
organisation’s data and assets so if one
device is hacked it doesn't immediately put
the whole network in danger.
INTELLIGENTCIO
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