Applied Learning from Historical Unpredictability

By Neil Correa, Security Strategist at Micro Focus

How we think of the future is largely informed by examining the past. 2020 has been nothing short of volatile and uncertain, and in order to make any kind of measured predictions into what 2021 will look like in enterprise security we need to better understand some very large trends that certainly will not change overnight. For example, the impact felt by companies as they shift to a remote work-force and the reverberations felt through the entire organization from this central reality (e.g., evolving threat landscape, data privacy and security challenges, culture of digital openness, and the need to evolve resilience).

Gaps in Security Exposed
Digital transformation timelines were significantly sped up due to the COVID-19 pandemic with security left behind, opening the door for hackers to access these vulnerable networks. Organizations have been focused on sustaining business operations and often security controls were either bypassed or not factored in during the rush of transforming to the new model. With the continued volatility and uncertainty, security controls are still not a priority and may not be addressed until a breach were to occur.
 
Business Operations
With many organizations no longer able to sustain business operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the expectation this will carry on for the next few years, orphaned data will provide a treasure trove for hackers to access. Removing and deleting data is very low on the priority list for organizations that are experiencing bankruptcy and these unmanaged systems and databases, whether on-premises or within third party/cloud locations, may either remain online or will not be wiped before being allocated or sold.
 
The Mantra of Resilience
Resiliency will become the next mantra of security and risk management teams – being resilient when experiencing crisis situations and continuing to function even with reduced capacity, all while containing the situation, will be the new normal. ‘Assume breach’ has been the mantra of CISOs for a number of years, however, with the advancements in automation, machine learning and analytics, the ability to quickly detect, respond and recover from breaches will enable businesses to continue operating while under breach conditions
 
The willing erosion of personal privacy
Privacy controls will continue to erode, especially among young adults/teenagers. Given that social interactions will be primarily online for the foreseeable future – social media accounts, online dating portals, location tagging, online banking etc. will provide a wealth of information to build a digital profile of users for businesses and bad guys alike. Users will willingly give up their personal information for a seamless online experience as well as connect their accounts to ease authentication and account/password management.

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About the Author

Neil Correa is a Security Strategist at Micro Focus, where he is responsible for driving strategic initiatives and providing thought leadership and insight into the ever changing threat landscape. Mr. Correa's experience includes many areas of cyber security including: Security Operations, SIEM engineering, audit and compliance assessments/remediation.