Digital Transformation’s Role in Security Trends of 2019

Here are the key principles of a strong Cyber Exposure strategies, critical to manage, measure and reduce cyber risk in the digital era.

Security Trends in 2019 and Beyond

Here we are! It’s the age of digital transformation. With so many technological advancements, security in 2019 is no longer simply about protecting sensitive data and keeping bad actors out of our traditional IT systems. In the world of big data, cloud and smart devices, emerging technology can lead to enormous new business opportunities and breakthroughs. But, at the same time, it can also introduce new security risks.

Below are the trends that will be driving the security market in 2019:

The New Frontier of IoT

IoT (Internet of Things) is a new frontier that is transforming the way organizations have traditionally looked at network and application security. While it is a big leap in technology, the diverse and complex environment of IoT often introduces new vulnerabilities into enterprise environments. This requires unified visibility into where an organization is exposed and to what extent.

Shifting Left

DevOps enables developers to quickly build and release new services and applications. This is a huge competitive advantage and something many organizations are turning to in the age of digital transformation. Unfortunately, containers present significant security challenges. The short-lived nature of containers and the inability to remediate vulnerabilities in production mean securing containers requires a different approach. By “shifting left,” organizations can integrate security into the software development lifecycle, enabling them to perform rapid vulnerability and malware detection within the DevOps toolchain.

The Convergence of IT and OT

While digital transformation has brought emerging technology to enterprises environments, it has also converged two worlds: IT and operational technology (OT). OT, including critical infrastructure such as power plants, manufacturing facilities, was built to work in isolation. In the digital era, these systems are increasingly connected to the outside world, leaving many of them potentially exposed. This convergence has made it more important than ever to have unified visibility across IT and OT assets in order to protect the critical infrastructure we all rely on.

Traditional Approaches Aren’t Cutting It

Unfortunately, the tools and approaches many organizations are using to understand their cyber risk were built for the world of client/server and on-premises data centers, where there was less complexity and more control over security. But digital transformation means an asset is no longer just a laptop or server. It’s now a complex mix of digital computing platforms and assets, all of which represent the modern attack surface.

Cyber Exposure is the Game Changer

To tackle the security trends of 2019 and well into the future, organizations need a holistic security solution that provides breadth of visibility into cybersecurity risk across the modern attack surface, including IT, Cloud, IoT and OT; and deep analytics that translate vulnerability data into business insights for the C-suite and Board of Directors.

Every organization, no matter how large or small, must be able to answer four foundational questions at all times: Where are we exposed? Where should we prioritize based on risk? Are we reducing risk over time? And, how do we compare to our peers? These are key tenets of a strong Cyber Exposure strategy and critical to managing, measuring and reducing cyber risk in the digital era.


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Security Trends Digital Transformation

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