FINAL WORD
Why we should let our walls
down when it comes to security
If we continue to build our
security walls higher and
even stronger, we may end up
blocking out the outsiders who
keep the business alive. Ashish
Gupta, Executive Vice President
and Chief Marketing Officer at
Infoblox, advises how to securely
protect your organisation
without becoming isolated.
root cause of threats, meaning any sense of safety created
is artificial. Organisations need to have a holistic security
posture that spans their internal network and devices. More
importantly, they must anticipate malicious external threats.
Security requires a holistic approach
For protection, traditional IT security systems have for a long time
relied on perimeter defences, such as firewalls, intrusion detection
systems and intrusion prevention systems. But that paradigm has
changed, as cybercriminals have evolved and cyberattacks have
increased in volume and sophistication. Malware is continuing to
explode. Singular perimeter defences are no longer enough.
Internal infrastructure, whether digital or physical, is meant
to encourage and foster a natural ebb and flow – of both
good and bad – with the world beyond the walls. Blocking
this organic two-way flow only incites turmoil and turbulence
within. Modern businesses rely on constant communication
both within and outside the organisation. After all, while
employees are crucial, a business cannot survive without
customers, partners, investors and other external stakeholders.
These are all outsiders who keep the business alive.
Therefore, building thick, impenetrable walls goes against
this grain of open and constant communication that our 21st
century enterprises are built on. Keeping everything out is not
an option (including insidious actors, hackers or viruses) and
keeping everything in (halting the outward flow of data) is
also impossible. As such, the industry must respond not with
rigid, insular systems that block, but rather open, adaptive
systems that can learn as threats evolve and move quickly
to discover and resolve threats. This is the only way to truly
bolster security.
Ashish Gupta, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing
Officer at Infoblox
W
ith digital threats growing more rampant across
the world, the idea of building ‘walls’ for cyber
defence and protection can seem appealing.
But even in this age of hackers relentlessly penetrating our
networks, in the information technology security industry
we know that walls don’t work. The truth is that surrounding
yourself with impenetrable barricades is akin to sticking
your head in the sand. Walls by themselves fail to tackle the
www.intelligentcio.com
“Our rich digital ecosystems
can only thrive and innovate
via learning from and
evolving with the disparate
digital communities
and netizens beyond our
perimeters, even if this
means occasional friction
and conflict.”
INTELLIGENTCIO
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