Digital Transformation & Data Protection

Data. New Gold. Who controls Data, controls the economy, healthcare, religion, media, finance, tech... I was pleased to be invited to the Data Protection conference held (EU day for data protection, 28.1.2022. Westin). For one moment, I remembered how the protection of Data is important in all aspects of our life, and how we willingly share all our day to day activities with the rest of the world, and then we complaint when some agencies call us and offer us goods and services based on our online presence. 

When does the data become so important? I remember seeing a movie, The Net, back in 1995 with Sandra Bulock. Bad guys called Pretorians installed malicious software on people's computers and stole medical, financial, and all other data. Back then, this was Science Fiction, but somehow on the road, it begins more like Nostradamus prediction. Is today's modern world possible that "someone" can break inside your phone/computer and steal data? Your precious videos, photos, financial / credit card data? Do we care what we share, where, with who, and why? 

Are we opening our doorstep to malicious people by telling them on social networks that we are not home, on vacation in different locations, and posting what we are drinking/eating? 

How important are data in today's modern world, and what are we actively doing to protect them? For sure, we are not doing enough, and most people are not aware of internet threats. Most of them are not aware that by leaving digital fingerprints all over the network, they are telling the big companies what their life preferences and lifestyles are. Based on that preferences, the most prominent companies haunt them with ads all over the network. 

Just for the test, search something you are interested in, e.g. Luxury Watch, go on a couple of sites and browse a bit about them, for sure in some times you will get persuaded by the same ads. 

Now, imagine that someone haunts your company, like ads hunting you all over the network.

Data protection

One in three companies becomes victims of cyber attacks every year. Data loss is one of the biggest financial risks for businesses, in addition to the penalties for breaking data privacy laws.

Consultants can help deliver a secure digital transformation by building security at the core. This will transform businesses and ensure they become ''secure to the core'', with a consistent framework for secure digital transformation.

The first key pillar for securing digital transformation is for organizations to monitor everything (both IT and operational technology) across the business.

The modern enterprise requires many security tools to secure its infrastructure and an increasing number of endpoints – networks, firewalls, servers, storage, devices, applications, data, etc.

These tools generate an enormous volume of data each day, making it almost impossible to identify and respond to true cyber-threats on time.

With the correct security monitoring solutions, organizations can detect threats quickly, respond to attacks rapidly, and defend the enterprise from security breaches by applying intelligence and automation to handle the enormous volume of incidents that occur across the globe. Digital transformation consultants can help organizations select proper tools and exemplary architecture.

In addition to monitoring everything, two additional critical pillars are essential to secure an enterprise: verify everything and encrypt everything.

Verify everything is about adopting a zero-trust security approach to digital identity and access management. For this priority to be considered successful, security should no longer be about "where" but instead be about the "who".

Identity and access management (IDAM) can effectively establish a logical perimeter that enables digital transformation. 

The right IDAM solutions prevent unauthorized access to enterprise information using multiple authentication methods with user access management and provisioning.

Encrypting everything is about minimizing the risk of unauthorized processing of business-critical data and avoiding accidental loss and destruction or damage to Data.

All sensitive data requires encryption and tokenization using trust services (PKI, biometrics, certificate, and key management), encryption solutions, and rights management. The proper data protection and privacy solutions encrypt sensitive data and prevent data loss from malicious cyberattacks.

Implementing an effective defense

Suppose organizations want to become secure to the core with their cyber-defense. In that case, they will need to adopt an approach that provides digital services with a high degree of automation through a security platform that applies, deep analytics, and automation to the security information and event management (SIEM) process.

The underlying technologies within this platform are often described as SOAR (security, orchestration, automation, and response).

IDC, meanwhile, describes these cybersecurity technologies as AIRO (Analytics, Incident, Response, and Orchestration). 

The AIRO technologies trace what is required in the Security Operations Center (SOC) to protect the enterprise network through threat detection and formal remediation.

Whether organizations decide to adopt "SOAR" or "AIRO" technologies, either way, they must apply automation and orchestration to cyber defenses to keep up with the insubstantial amount of data and incidents generated across a wide array of endpoints and infrastructure.

Lumen Spei ltd. can help organizations to become secure in their digital transformation process. If you wish to talk more about these topics, drop us an email at krunoslav.ris@lumenspei.com

Cheers!!!