EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
HOW CAN IT LEADERS MANAGE EXPECTATIONS AND EVOLVE SECURITY STRATEGIES TO KEEP PACE WITH EMERGING TRENDS ?
We asked industry experts how IT leaders can manage expectations and evolve security strategies to keep pace with emerging trends . Here ’ s what Anthony Spiteri , Senior Global Technologist at Veeam Software , had to say :
The technology industry is an ever-changing beast . These days , if an IT team so much as blinks , it could miss an iteration of a platform , or new method of deploying a particular technology . This level of innovation cannot be maintained without an equal measure of education .
When it comes to security strategies , education should be the first step taken on the path towards resilience . Veeam ’ s 2021 Data Protection Report revealed that data outages put Australian businesses out of action for 86 minutes on average .
This confronting figure has the potential to rise if an IT team has not been educated on proactive methods to mitigate the risks of an outage . In the absence of the necessary skills and knowledge , panic and irreparable damage could ensue . To avoid being caught in a reactive position , it is critical that IT leaders fully understand the three main security attack vectors : Internet-facing services , phishing attacks and software vulnerabilities .
Once organizations know where the threats lie , they can approach training with strategies to refine IT and user security and implement the correct tools to ensure they are prepared for all eventualities . This will help IT administration isolate Internet facing services with backup components , integrate tools to assess the threat of phishing attacks to help spot and respond correctly , and inform users on recurrent updates to critical categories of IT assets , such as operating systems , applications , databases and device firmware .
Committing to educating a team is not just a one-off event . It requires a consistent training and auditing program to ensure all members of the team are on the same page . Data outages can happen just as easily from inside an organization as outside – often simply as a result of human error . So , if businesses can easily mitigate these errors by enforcing regular compulsory training modules , why wouldn ’ t they ?
It goes without saying that data downtime could have a catastrophic impact on an organization ’ s bottom line , but it could also lead to something far worse – reputational damage . Where a business might take a matter of weeks or months to recover from the financial blow , a black spot on a company ’ s reputation could linger for years , impacting customer loyalty and partner relationships .
In the absence of a silver bullet , businesses will need to plan ahead and invest time and resources into ensuring their IT leads can confidently deploy the most up-todate security solutions to suit their newest technologies adoptions . Our IT teams are the heart of most businesses , and without their hard work in the back end to keep things flowing , the knock-on effect to other departments could be catastrophic and even fatal . So , in choosing to make your IT teams your priority , you are also choosing to prioritize your bottom line , your corporate reputation and the development of your staff .
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