FEATURE : CIO ’ S PRIORITY
RANSOMWARE HAS EVOLVED FROM BEING A CRIME AGAINST A COMPANY TO BECOMING A PART OF THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS .
Ransomware has evolved from being a crime against a company to becoming a part of the cost of doing business . It hits companies daily .
Computing , Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning , it will be up to the CIO to redefine the job to ensure there is a balance between administration and on-going learning .
The CIO is surrounded by other types of digital officers , which doesn ’ t render the position obsolete but does demand that it becomes more cross-functional . The position also needs to be less top-down , diluting the command-and-control siloed architecture that was forged in the previous century .
The concept of a CIO being a chief information executive remains valid but requires a step away from outdated notions that it must be fixed in its role and stature , as a position that holds responsibility for internal processes centring around Digital Transformation .
So far in 2021 , the most infamous cases included Colonial Pipeline , which resulted in near economic catastrophe by closing fuel deliveries to the entire US East Coast and Ireland ’ s healthcare service , which faces months of disruption as it continues to recover from a May 14 ransomware attack . The region is equally vulnerable to these cyberattacks as evident from the recent ransomware attacks on Tokio Marine Insurance and Eye and Retina Surgeons in Singapore .
The CIO is in prime position to be able to translate the often-ethereal notions of cybersecurity into real-world visuals , such as the spill over effects that a breach would have on a company ’ s brand , reputation , share price , litigation , lost customers , environmental issues and much more .
The constantly evolving new priorities and technologies that will form the future of business all require the input and influence of the individual holding the CIO chair .
Far from being a redundant and dated position , an organization would better serve itself by taking time to redefine the position , delegating certain roles to other officers and managers and continuing to ask the question : “ How best can our CIO continue to look inward , aiming to improve processes within the company while
Looking ahead , even five years is a long time and it is guaranteed that technology and cybercrime will continue to advance in this period as with any other . But with incremental increases in communication such as 6G replacing 5G as well as advances in Quantum
BIOGRAPHY
Rana Gupta is the Vice President of Asia Pacific for Thales ’ Data Protection , where he is responsible for delivering revenue and profitability growth , developing partner and channel networks and monitoring of business operations in the Asia Pacific region .
Gupta has 20 years of experience in the IT industry and prior to his current position ; he was the Business Head of India and SAARC of SafeNet . In this role , Gupta was responsible for software monetization throughout Asia Pacific and all solutions in the SAARC region . Prior to this role he was the Vice President of Engineering at SafeNet . Before joining SafeNet , he held several positions at Altos India and was responsible for the successful roll-out of various product lines .
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