role of Chief Information Security Officer has evolved to Chief Security Officer, incorporating physical security as well as digital-cyber security. This reflects the continued evolution of adversary tactics to include hybrid methodologies.
The weaponized USB stick dropped in the parking lot, picked up an employee, walked through security, and plugged into the corporate network is just one example of hybrid tactics.
When you look at distributed computational nodes, again, each vulnerable in its own right but also an access point to an interconnected network, the attack vector may well start with physical access.
You could potentially restrict the ability of these “end point” devices to “phone home,” thereby inhibiting their ability to spread their contagion within a broader network. Unfortunately, in the process, you limit the effectiveness of that device by restricting two-way communications, essential to the full function of the device.
This brings us to the challenges of data provenance, a domain of data science that will be essential to long-term data and cybersecurity—how to validate and trust data that is moving at the speed of light over interconnected networks.
[Editor’s note: This is part of a series of posts sharing thoughts from technology leaders about 2018 trends and 2019 forecasts.]
Photo of Bob Ackerman courtesy of AllegisCyber
