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MECHELLE BUYS DU
PLESSIS, MANAGING
DIRECTOR – UAE,
DIMENSION DATA
EDITOR’S QUESTION
3. Behavioural analytics and artificial intelligence (AI)
demand a re-look at identity. More organisations have been
exploiting the power of AI and machine learning to bolster
their cybersecurity defences. However, until now they’ve faced
limitations: the machine programmer must still provide the
machine with algorithms that instruct it about what types of
malicious software or activity to search for.
In 2018, we will see this change, thanks to a technique known as
‘deep learning’, which enables the machine to learn itself. Deep
Learning will enable us to take behavioural analytics to a new
level. Machines will start undertaking highly granular analyses of
users’ activities.
1. ‘Zero trust’ security makes a comeback. 2018 will see a vast
change in internal security procedures towards a zero-trust security
model. IT departments are spending millions of dollars while
witnessing successful breaches of their defences. Increasingly,
the consensus appears to be that the IT industry with its sets of
sophisticated best practices, compliance and guidance directives, is
in some way losing the game to smarter and innovative groups of
dispersed threats actors. This is driving 2018 to be the comeback
year of the zero-trust security approach. IT departments will do a
reset of all end-user access registers, and assume that any end-user
cannot be trusted till they explicitly establish their identity before
any requested access.
2. Deception technologies become the security enablers of
The Internet of Things (IoT) and operating technology (OT).
OT is enabling IoT increasingly in industries such as automotive
and manufacturing. However, this is also ushering in a new
element of risk because the sensors attached to OT devices are
enabling a new breed of cyberattack. The industry has been
exploring ways to defend against them but it is not easy. Most
manufacturers aren’t considering security in the development
phase of their products. And sensors are typically light-weight
devices with minimal storage capacity, which makes embedding
encryption chips into them unfeasible.
In 2018, we foresee deception technologies playing a significant
role in ensuring that security is maintained across the supervisory
control and data acquisition (SCADA) control system architecture,
operational technologies and wider IoT infrastructure.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
4. Robo-hunters are the new norm. Most cybersecurity experts
agree that it’s critical to have access to threat intelligence
about the latest types of attacks and tactics. However,
intelligence alone isn’t enough. Organisations must proactively
‘hunt down the enemy’.
In 2018, we’ll start seeing machines entering the enterprise
through robo-hunters, which are automated threat-seekers that
can make decisions on behalf of humans. Enabled by artificial
intelligence, they continuously scan an organisation’s environment
for any changes that might indicate a potential threat. We believe
that the rise of robo-hunters will enable more businesses to move
from a proactive to a predictive security posture.
5. Blockchain is the disruptor. The opportunities and applications
of Blockchain in the world of cybersecurity are only just
emerging. Blockchain allows a digital ledger of transactions to be
created and shared among participants via a distributed network
of computers. The system is highly accessible and transparent to
all participants; all transactions are publicly visible. This means
it’s possible for businesses to make Blockchain ‘corporately
visible’ within their organisation so that they can see every
transaction that takes place between one individual and another,
one piece of data and another, or one machine and another. This
enables companies to build up a comprehensive history of every
transaction that occurs. We believe this has significant potential
to allow organisations to boost their defences in the areas of user
authentication and identity and access management.
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