Chief Information Security Officer best practices for 2018: Proactive cyber security

Abstract

Cyber adversaries are adapting to the enterprise rush to include new features, add cloud and cut costs faster than IT teams are able to secure them. This cyber security paradox creates an opportunity whereby cybercriminals and adversaries only need to be right or ’lucky‘ once in an attack, while cyber defenders must be ’right‘ every time. Yet, despite the high priority of security in nearly every industry, breaches continue to make headline news. Despite effective solutions to mitigate or eliminate those threats, IT and security teams are fighting a losing battle, as the need for new features is often prioritised over the requirement for security. This paper examines these cracks in the organisational struggle for security and their root causes, and offers a practical perspective on how to achieve better defence through training, balancing processes and leveraging the right technologies to decrease attack vectors and build a proactive security process that is better prepared for current and new threats.