INTELLIGENT ENTERPRISE SECURITY
Why we should let our
walls down when it
comes to cybersecurity
In this day and age of so many threats, how can we safeguard
ourselves without erecting walls asks Ashish Gupta, Executive
Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Infoblox.
Ashish Gupta, Executive Vice President and
Chief Marketing Officer at Infoblox.
W
Security requires a
holistic approach 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 the only way to truly bolster security.
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 cyber criminals have evolved
and cyber attacks 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 truth is that
surrounding
yourself with
impenetrable
barricades is akin
to sticking your
head in the sand.
ith digital threats growing
more rampant across the
country and from around
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 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.
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So how do we go about building these
protective, intelligently porous systems?
Let’s break down what a network like this
would entail.
It starts with the foundation
Today’s digital organisations must strive
to build secure systems and networks that
are open and enable the bidirectional flow
of information, support the needs of the
business and are simple to manage, all
while maintaining security. These networks
are not one element but a collection of
widgets or, returning to the wall metaphor,
bricks that need to be glued together.
These bricks are crucial to the
foundation of your infrastructure. They
must strengthen each other, maintain the
integrity of the foundation and provide the
necessary protection, but always allow the
free flow of ideas, information, commerce
and communication.
Control and security come from
the core
The core of the network is what enables
communication and interaction with
others in the broader digital ecosystem. In
stark contrast to rigid perimeter defences
and walls, the network needs to provide
protection without compromising openness.
This means building digital infrastructure
that is responsive and flexible.
Most importantly, in today’s dangerous
cyber climate, they must protect the
infrastructure’s integrity, the assets and
Issue 10
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS