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Infosecurity in


Infosecurity Network editor Jim Mortleman looks at the changing state of the industry and asks how visitors to the show should be approaching suppliers today.


From industry giants offering to help with all your infosecurity needs to niche specialists touting solutions to tackle specific threats, the range of companies, services and technologies on show at this year’s Infosecurity Europe is simultaneously impressive and bewildering. Some visitors simply come to keep up with the industry trends, technologies and talking points, but others have more focused intentions - to meet suppliers or check out technologies that might be able to help with specific security challenges facing their organisations. The infosecurity industry has always had a reputation as something of a black art. To a certain extent, customers have had to accept on trust its assessment of the nature and level of the threats that are “out there”, as well as its assertions that particular products and services can help protect us adequately. But there are signs that today the industry is being forced out of the shadows and the practices that have served it well enough up to now may be set to change. Savvy customers are no longer content to shell out for the latest whiz-bang technologies unless suppliers can understand their business requirements and explain how any proposed solution fits in with their wider organisational security and risk management strategy. In addition, more infosecurity stories are being reported by the mainstream media, putting the spotlight on current threat-protection provisions like never before. Governments around the globe are also finally starting to realise the potentially disastrous consequences of cyber-attacks and are pouring resources into developing better defence strategies. Simultaneously - amid a growing profusion of new


connections, applications, devices and exploits - experts are warning that unless the industry helps customers address their security strategy from a human and business standpoint (as well as just a technical one) they will be incapable of adequately reducing the risk that those customers will be hit by some damaging “zero day” threat or clever new social engineering tactic. Security expert and Computer Weekly blogger David


Lacey, for instance, predicts that “2011 will see the start of a revolution in security thinking, which will last for most of the next decade”, a period he says might prove to be a “new age of enlightenment” for the industry. However, he’s under no illusions that this new dawn will either come quickly or be universally welcomed and accepted by suppliers. So how can buyers ensure they select providers that do understand the need for change - and that are committed to more enlightened, co-ordinated thinking on infosecurity? The simple answer is that you can gain a pretty good idea by talking to the right people and asking the right questions - which is why a show like this presents a great opportunity to conduct your own informal market research.


Any supplier worth its salt should be able not only to answer questions about their technology and the threat landscape, but also to address your real business issues convincingly - such as how you can gain the touted benefits of cloud computing while ensuring the security of your organisation’s information once it leaves the confines of your data centre; how you can attain the mobility and flexibility offered by smart mobile devices without users falling foul of the latest threats or scams; or how best you can ensure your customer-facing systems such as websites are protected from attack. And if their answers amount to little more than “buy our technology and you’ll have no need to worry”, you’ll know they’re probably not serious about change.


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