The ubiquitous spread of digital devices in this technologically connected age has made a radical transformation in the security landscape. The confluence of new age technologies such as mobile, social media, analytics and cloud computing are coming together to change the way in which various companies connect and communicate with their stakeholders. This risk paradigm has always been subject to change, but various complexities have increased the security threats over the past few years.
Changing business templates that involve evolving business models, business outsourcing to third parties, IT outsourcing, online commerce and cloud computing are some factors that have increased a company’s exposure to risk and cyber crimes such as data leakage, data theft, phishing and online fraud.
Sensitive or proprietary corporate data stored on a cloud or hardware can be instantly disseminated over the internet, shared on social media, captured on personal smart devices. In short – with an emerging number of channels and platforms, classified corporate information can easily travel around the world with the simple click of the button.
In this complex and connected era, it is essential for the CIO or IT head of the company to be aware of the rapidly evolving breadth and depth of risk, and the immediate need for counter effective measures.
A decade ago the CIO was merely a support mechanism for the company, but today he is a strategic support who often serves as a catalyst for corporate growth. In the current age, the role of the CIO is integral to the organisation and through the harnessing of effective technologies and applications, he can largely streamline operations, influence, saving and even impact market performance. It is also imperative for CIOs to stay a step ahead to ensure the safety, integrity, and security of growing volumes of sensitive data.
However while where there is multiple security measures that a CIO can take, a key challenge is the creation of a risk conscious culture that cascades throughout the organisation. With the given multilayered and complex security threats, organisations need to implement controls across the various lines of defence a company has- from marketing, inventory to HR, and administration, every department needs to be involved in managing and reducing security threats to a company.
The mantra of compliance, monitoring and reporting is a tool that can greatly reduce security risks. It is essential that the company should have a risk management framework, with policies, guidelines and accountability and ownership well defined. Since the risk factors in a company are constantly changing, hiring risk consultants who can undertake a profiling the corporate security as well as identify gaps will help mitigate the IT threat. Additionally the organisation needs to be able to design processes and procedures to enable a sustainable and repeatable assessment of numerous environmental threats including IT risks.
Today, the evolving digital landscape clearly contends for an in-depth analysis of IT risks especially, around key trends of cloud computing, big data, analytics, cybercrime as well as various internal risks and corporate strategy threats. At all times an organization should be prepared not only to cope with risks and undertake reactive damage control but also to prevent incident occurring in the first instance.
