MARKET REPORT Data Security
Data security –
Prevention or
Mitigation?
Data security has risen up the list of concerns
businesses are now facing, mostly driven by
compliance (GDPR) factors. The value of business
data has never been so great, and the cyber
criminals have never been so active. But what does
this mean for Channel Partners?
The digital transformation
journeys undertaken by
any business includes many
elements of technology
where touch point data gathering
is pretty much the whole
point – gaining information
on customers. In customer led
strategies we want to establish
what users want; what they like
or dislike about the products we
are supplying them and, with a
bit of luck, what they are looking
for in new products and services.
If organisations are doing
this right, then they are
accumulating a lot data every
day; data that has value once
‘processed’ through data
analytic applications that can
help management develop
future strategies to improve
performance.
It’s an unintended
consequence therefore that
whilst this data has a value to
the company that garnered it, it
also presents a growing target to
others that would like to steal it
for their own means.
is presents problems
for the organisation that has
painstakingly gathered the
data and built value in it for
themselves. For almost two years
now we have been subject to the
extensive rules laid out in the
EU’s General Data Protection
Regulations (GDPR).
ere is a responsibly to not
only collect such data according
to GDPR but to also look after
it securely. Penalties for doing
neither are severe.
e headline nes so far are
British Airways and the Marriott
hotel chain who between them
were handed nes totalling
almost £300m by the watchdog,
e Information Commissioner’s
Oce (ICO).
Is it now a case of ‘when’ not
‘if’ when it comes to security
breaches?
Graham Wilkinson, Head of
Sales at Beyond Connectivity,
says he thinks the situation is
getting worse rather than better.
“One of the biggest areas I see
is around hackers and malware
ransom threats inltrating a
system. Just recently there was a
big company threatened that the
details of ve million customers
would be released if they didn’t
pay a fee. If only they had paid a
little bit more for their security,
it might not of happened.
Similar cases are occurring day
in and day out – small as well as
big players.”
Emily Nerland, EMEA
Channel Director at Masergy,
says yes, the time to start
evaluating your security policies
was yesterday.
“Security challenges are
intensifying, and they are
getting harder for businesses
to resolve, particularly on their
own.
Resellers and partners should
understand the biggest trends
and pain points in security
today:
• Enterprises must assume
attackers are already inside.
Comprehensive security is
monitoring both the inside
(the network) and the outside
(cloud apps, linked devices,
partner connection etc).
• Alert overload and security
talent are major pain points
for enterprises. Security
technologies generate
mountains of alerts that
people must investigate
and react to but these
‘solutions’ typically fall short
in responding, putting the
burden back to the client
who isn’t staed to handle
response. Meanwhile, hiring
and keeping skilled security
analysts is an uphill struggle,
as trained analysts are low in
quantity and high in demand.
• For those who have already
reached higher levels of
security maturity, Zero Trust
is a hot topic in security circles
because it uses identitybased
analytics to create
an environment where ‘no
one is trusted’. While this
strengthens defences and
36 | Comms Business Magazine | March 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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