CISOs Must Enable Digital Transformation
The job of a CISO has grown in scope and complexity since the introduction of the role more than a decade ago. Today, CISOs must not only handle the traditional elements of external threat defense but manage and monitor malicious insider activity, collaborate with peers in compliance to apply necessary controls for data privacy and routinely council fellow executives and board members on the changing cyber landscape as it pertains to business transformation initiatives.
While transformation promises efficiencies, customer satisfaction and new revenue opportunities, it requires change. And for CISOs, change means risk to business information systems and applications that run the business. Whether it is a complete lift to the cloud, the introduction of mobile applications that expose back-office applications to the internet or the adoption of next-generation database technologies such as HANA from SAP, digital transformation is not all unicorns and rainbows for CISOs.
Beyond the simple idea that transformational change creates risk, attackers are also modifying their playbooks and turning their attention ‘up the stack’ to set their sights on the application layer, where enterprise resource planning systems such as SAP and others hold the crown jewels. Securing these business-critical applications continues to be a hot topic among CISOs and the Board. As the core business information systems of many Fortune 2000 companies and entities worldwide, business-critical application platforms are one of the most profitable targets for cybercriminals and intruders.
As part of our ongoing partnership to educate CISOs about this important trend, and how they can enable ‘secure’ digital transformation, Tim McKnight and I will be co-moderating a panel titled, Secure the Core – Protect the Applications that Run Your Business at the Evanta Global CISO Summit on September 10 in Westlake Village, CA.
While protecting against endpoint, phishing and network attacks are vital to your business, business-critical application security can and should be a strategic initiative that will accelerate operational transformation, process efficiency and compliance readiness.
To better understand the exposure and risk living within your organization’s business-critical applications, request a complimentary risk illustration.