Organizations are rapidly expanding their horizons, both in terms of data generation and reach. As their associations with their customers, suppliers and business partners are expanding, there’s a simultaneously growing need for protecting an organization’s information and network security. The following article talks about the expanding horizons of organizations, the rising security concerns and how collaboration can help improve the overall security of organizations. Read on.
As the world becomes more and more interconnected, there are significant gains that organizations can reap such as increased reach with customers, suppliers and business partners. However, this doesn’t come without risks. While electronic communications improve reach, they also expand the risks that organizations face.
The volumes of data are expanding manifold and are getting increasingly out of control of organizations, as they’re being stored on cloud and accessed on a wide variety of devices by various external parties. As such, organizations need to evolve and improve their network security strategy, while taking into consideration the entire ecosystem in which they function, rather than merely protecting their organization’s four walls.
As per a survey conducted by IBM, 82% of the 138 security leaders who have been asked for opinions, say that the definition and scope of network security has majorly evolved in the past three years, as there are a wide array of complex threat vectors that organizations need to manage, to keep their information secure.
Collaboration: The key to evolving security strategy
While the isolating an organization’s network would be an ideal measure to improving security, it cannot possibly be applied in the present organizational networking scenario, where the organization’s ecosystem is constantly expanding outward. Leading organizational leaders are of the opinion that interaction with external constituents such as customers, suppliers and partners.
Collaboration has been observed to be the best way to improve security strategy. As paradoxical as it may seem, organizational leaders believe that the key to protecting and safeguarding the network is to be open. And, collaboration is the way to achieving that openness. Collaborating with peers can help industry leaders understand their organization’s threat landscape in a better way. It can also help organizations gain an insight into the security strategies deployed by other organizations.
Leading industry leaders are of the opinion that the best collaborations can be done with their immediate colleagues, suppliers and partners and even governments. Relationships can be built to an array of mediums that include both formal and informal collaboration and networking that could be in the form of global advisory boards, expert presentations and casual discussions over coffee and dinner. Moreover, collaborating with experts outside the security function area, such ad general counsel and privacy officers can also help organizational leaders gain a wider perspective of the knowledge required to improve network security.
Looking beyond the primary industry sector can also be beneficial. For instance, the banking sector can provide some valuable insight into ways of protecting the sensitive information of customers. Imparting quality security training to the security professionals of an organization from time to time is also a great way to incorporate the latest developments in network security. CCNA security training, CCNP security training and various other Cisco security courses are highly valued in this regard.
Conclusively, collaboration can work significant benefits for organizations to improve their network security.
Have thoughts and opinions to share? Share them with me in the comments below.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.