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FINAL WORD
IT security –
oxygen or onion?
Security is as vital to organisational
success as technology and people. That
is according to Mark Walker, Associate
Vice President of Sub-Saharan Africa at
International Data Corporation (IDC).
S
earch for security on Google. The engine will autofill with –
security is like oxygen and security is like an onion. Both are
true. Security is the oxygen that keeps the business alive.
Without it there is the risk of breach, reputational loss and failure. It is
also, like the onion, multi-layered and complex enough to make even
the sturdiest of Chief Information Security Officer’s (CISO) cry.
Today, security isn’t at the beginning of the end as solutions
relentlessly refine their capabilities and reach. It is at the end of
the beginning. Technology is relentlessly evolving through Digital
Transformation, the third platform, and the Fourth Industrial
Revolution. Never have industry and business been more reliant on
technology. It has also never been more important to put security on
the ground floor instead of loosely bolted on top.
Most South African companies are serious about Digital
Transformation and yet only 9% of South African CIOs believe
that cybersecurity and privacy technology are vitally important to a
Digital Transformation strategy. This is a concern. Security should be
the bedrock for Digital Transformation – if systems are taught the
wrong things at the start, the issues scale rapidly. This is particularly
true within the scope of the Internet of Things where Machine
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