The flood of technological change has led commentators to attach the prefix “hyper-” for special emphasis; the world is hyper-connected, supply chains are hyper-optimised, processes are hyper-specialised, and internet connectivity is hyper-fast.
The reality is that today’s need for speed and efficiency has left businesses increasingly vulnerable and the need for effective cyber security more important than ever before.
Why hyper- means vulnerable
Behind the scenes of today’s hyper-connected world are millions and millions of connections that happen every second between people, machines, apps, bots, and devices as data or access information is shared with one another.
This interaction creates exciting opportunities for engaging with technology but also poses additional risks with ever-expanding attack surfaces, which opens up more and more vulnerabilities for people and data, that need to be addressed.
As a result, it has become increasingly important (and challenging) for organisations to address these risks as they look to go beyond digital transformation to deliver on their digital imperative.
Building trust in every digital experience and interaction
Instilling trust, not only in your digital experiences and services, but also in every digital interaction that powers them, is fundamental across every point of access between people, machines, services, and things.
We often hear the following four questions from CISOs who are seeking to instil trust in today’s hyper-connected world:
1. How can I reduce access risk across the multicloud environment?
With the continued shift to multicloud environments, the rise in adoption of the internet of everything, in addition to the shift to
hybrid work models, has led to a massive increase in identities, permissions and resources across public cloud platforms – increasing
the risk of accidental or malicious permission misuse.
The question organisations need to ask is not just “Is my cloud secure?” but rather “Am I using the cloud securely?” or “Do I know who has access to my data and for how long do they really need that access?”
2. How can I enable secure digital interactions that respect privacy?
Today’s digital identity frameworks suffer from a growing lack of trust, are centralised, not portable, and do not give users any control over their own personal information. Trust has been eroded further by the continuing growth of high-profile data and privacy breaches.
To overcome current identity challenges, the way data is collected and stored will be critical in order to put power and responsibility back in the hands of the individual – giving them the ability to control and protect their own personal information.
3. How can I automate critical identity governance scenarios?
Provisioning new users and guest accounts and managing their access rights manually is a huge challenge for businesses, which can have a negative impact on productivity for both IT and individuals alike.
In order to safeguard your business, the onboarding and offboarding of users needs to be simplified with automated processes for reprovisioning or deactivating people’s accounts and access rights when they change roles or exit the business. Additionally, regular access reviews should be built in.
4. How can I extend protection over a greater attack surface?
The security perimeter is no longer confined to a company’s network. In a multicloud native world, identity is the new perimeter, which brings about new approaches and measures to manage risk.
To strengthen your organisation’s security posture across the whole digital ecosystem – from endpoints, networks, IoT devices, operational technology networks, and to manage this whilst battling with the increasing cyber skills gap – will require access to the right balance of people, technology, and governance.
Are you interested in finding out more about the answers to these questions? Get in touch to speak to one of our experts.
