Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2024. Read them in this 16th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.
Security Success in 2024 Will All Come Back to Data
By Amer Deeba, CEO and Co-Founder of
Normalyze
The
surge of AI adoption among enterprises has created an influx of data, and
alongside the need to address new SEC disclosure requirements, IT leaders face
the significant task of protecting what matters most - data. With a 17% increase in cybersecurity breaches
over the past year, the need for business protection is more apparent than ever
before. But as the spotlight is shone on these data breaches, it begs the
questions: Do you know where your most important data is, what is considered
"material" and what needs to be disclosed after a data breach? How quickly can
you answer these questions to SEC regulators, your Board, and most importantly,
to your customer?
As
business leaders prepare for 2024, the conversation all comes back to data -
where it lives, where it is going, and how to keep it protected.
Data Will Be Critical to Address SEC
Regulations
As
we know, the new SEC transparency requirements now require public companies to
disclose cybersecurity posture annually and cyber incidents within four days
after determining an incident was material. This significant policy shift will
force businesses to think about security with data at the forefront. In
response, enterprises will dedicate both effort and budget to support the SEC's
data-first strategy - implementing best practices that assure shareholders that
their company's most valuable asset is protected. In 2024, companies will need
to discover where their data resides and who can access it, while proactively
remediating risks that have the highest monetary impact in the event of a
breach. When faced with this dilemma, companies will lean on automation,
specifically end-to-end, automated solutions that center on a holistic data
security approach.
The
recent ALPHV/Black Cat and MeridianLink breach underscores the importance of
full organizational visibility into an entire data attack surface, no matter
where it resides in the cloud, in SaaS applications, or on premises. In order
to answer critical questions with confidence in the event of a breach and lower
the probability of a breach, companies need to implement data visibility into
cybersecurity program fabric and enact proactive, protective defenses. The risk
of exposure/tagging is not novel, but with these new disclosure requirements,
securing the target of such attacks - the data - has gone from a good best
practice to an absolute necessity. Being proactive means that if a breach does
occur, you can respond quickly, answer critical questions, be in compliance
with the SEC requirements, and most importantly - respond.
In
2024 we'll see organizations separated by their approach to data security. With
these regulations, there is no alternative. Organizations must effectively
remediate risks to lucrative sensitive data before breaches occur. Only this
will allow organizations to respond decisively and confidently if an incident
occurs. By establishing data-first security practices, the company improves its
reputation with customers and establishes shareholder trust, especially
important given the SEC's prioritization of financial health and mitigation of
negative stock market impacts.
To Address the Influx of Data,
Security Teams Must Approach Security Like a Team Sport
At
the height of AI technology adoption, companies will need to refocus in 2024 on
protecting their data as it gets used by machine learning modes and new AI
technologies. The challenges that this will bring require the profound depth
and efficiencies of AI and automated processes to ensure the protection of
sensitive data that resides in cloud and hybrid environments. As demands around
data change, organizations will need to invest in their security and cloud ops
teams, approaching data security like a team sport, building efficient, shared
responsibility models to better protect data. Teams can then regain visibility
of all data stores within an enterprise's cloud or on-premises environment and
trace possible attack paths, overprovisioned access, and risks that can lead to
data exposure. Only by identifying the approach to data, ensuring permissions
and privileges, and efficiently implementing AI will companies enable their
teams to be successful in 2024.
Collaboration for
Disclosure at the Board Level
As companies and cybersecurity teams prepare their teams for the
new SEC disclosure requirements, internal teams will have to determine what is
considered material and what needs to be disclosed in an 8K filing.
Collaboration between cybersecurity, legal, and finance teams will be paramount
to ensure the "material" details of a cyber incident are disclosed and the
questions surrounding disclosures are answered with confidence, especially when
it comes to sensitive data.
Data
Protection Continues to Take Center Stage
Putting data protection at the forefront
of your business's security strategy builds trust between you and your
customers, and taking a proactive approach prioritizing security posture means
you'll be able to protect sensitive data on an ongoing basis. Protecting
customers will always be a priority across all industries, and as business
leaders look to continue driving innovation into 2024, data protection will
remain at the center.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Amer is a senior go-to-market executive with extensive experience in driving both product, marketing and sales go-to-market strategies for enterprise and cloud technologies. In his 17 years tenure at Qualys (NASDAQ: QLYS), Amer led all aspects of marketing, business development, strategic alliances and global enterprise accounts. He also played an instrumental role in taking the company public in 2012.