Can companies enforce restrictions for personal devices? What levels of support should corporate IT departments provide for these devices? Should organizations be authorized to wipe the devices clean of data if they are stolen?
Big Data Will Be Used to Drive Risk Decision-Making
In 2013, the buzz around big data prompted companies worldwide to start developing tools and processes that could analyze massive volumes of enterprise data, and transform it into meaningful insights. Pilot programs were launched, and data sources identified.
In 2014, we are likely to see the fruits of that labor. Big data will now be used to drive risk-informed decision-making. Organizations will leverage advanced big data analytics to filter through enterprise data, identify patterns of potential risk, and develop risk predictions and forecasts. Big data tools will be accessible not only to statisticians and engineers but also to regular business users and management teams.
Big data will be especially beneficial to information security and IT risk management. It will offer us the chance to aggregate and correlate data from a variety of sources—including vulnerability scanners, fraud detectors, identity access management systems, and threat advisory feeds—in order to derive meaningful risk and threat intelligence that can, in turn, be used to detect and predict advanced attacks.
Internet Security Will Witness New Innovations
The proliferation of Internet-based applications, anytime-anywhere connectivity, mobility, unlimited data storage capacity, and of course, advanced cloud computing models has allowed businesses to manage almost all their activities and data online.
In the process, cybersecurity risks and issues have become more troubling than ever. No organization is safe from these threats, which are growing increasingly sophisticated and complex, and entering through multiple access points in corporate data and systems. The 2013 Symantec Internet Security Threat Report revealed that last year alone, there was a 42 percent increase in targeted attacks.
But the actual situation on the ground may be far more dangerous than reported – 57 percent of malware analysts say that their organizations have not disclosed data breaches, according to a blind survey conducted by ThreatTrack Security.
Faced with these risks, organizations are likely to step up their cybersecurity efforts in 2014 by monitoring their Internet activities more closely, strengthening cybersecurity controls, and streamlining security processes. We might also see more collaboration with peers and experts in the field, and a greater focus on investing skills and resources in developing new cybersecurity innovations.
Conclusion
I’m excited to see what the year 2014 holds in terms of new technology opportunities. As always, the companies that strike a good balance between these opportunities and the associated risks will be the ones to succeed. On that note, I wish you and your business a successful and profitable year ahead.
