When I think of the cyber security realm, three characteristics come top of mind- Velocity, Volume and Variety. These three facets of the attack landscape make security a consistently moving target. It’s one of the only verticals where an active attack actor can change the state of an industry with a touch of keyboard.
Over the last decade we have had a front row seat to witness the evolution of not just cyber attacks, but also, society’s growing realization and recognition of the impact these threats pose. Global organizations, corporations, small business and average citizens are all targets of interest – why? Because of the digital information and identity, which are valued assets by cybercriminals, either for financial gain, intellectual property theft or simply leverage.
That said, there is a limited pool of experienced professionals who have the know-how and capabilities to respond to cyber events, which is why I have focused on creating a global team comprised of folks who have unique skills, and, more importantly, vast experience in this realm. I don’t have the chance to quote Shakespeare often, but as he famously wrote, ”Experience is by industry achieved and perfected by the swift course of time.” The element of time controls the tipping point of an attack’s impact and amplifies the importance of speed with incident response.
Looking at the attack landscape from a practioner’s lens, the goals are to improve response times and effectiveness, lower response costs, and enable continuous improvement of an organization’s security posture by leveraging lessons learned from incidents.
The reality of this point in time is that data breaches are increasing, not decreasing, leading to the common saying among security professionals of “it’s not if, but when an organization will breached.” That said, the fighter in us says we can shift the balance between attack and victim, between waiting and chance, between reactive and proactive by preparing incident response strength.
To learn more about how to fight the cyber security war watch my discussion on ZDNet here.
Learn more about how Symantec’s Incident Response services team can help you prepare, detect and respond.