VIEWPOINT
HOW TO UNLOCK THE TRUE VALUE OF SECURITY EFFECTIVE VULNERABILITY MANAGEMENT NEEDS A NEW, MORE INCLUSIVE APPROACH TO SECURITY, SAYS MARCO ROTTIGNI, CHIEF TECHNICAL SECURITY OFFICER, EMEA, QUALYS
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ver the past decade, countries across the Middle East have locked themselves into nationwide economic initiatives where smart governments will one day watch over smart societies powered by smart grids; nextgeneration healthcare will ensure a thriving population where classrooms of the future groom astute innovators in sustainable cycles of prosperity. As early as 2016, Deloitte, PwC and other industry observers, saw the Middle East as poised for harnessing Industry 4.0 to foment globally competitive economies. Around the same time,
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CXO INSIGHT ME
JUNE 2020
McKinsey noted a 150-fold surge in crossborder data flow between the region and the rest of the world, and speculated about a future that would include a Digital Middle East. And in February, IDC told the UAE’s National newspaper that one third of the Middle East and Africa’s US$90billion IT spend for this year would be dedicated to digitisation. But digital transformation, while a catalyst for many boons, comes with some caveats. The breadth and depth of change to infrastructure can throw the unwary security team off balance. It takes a firm hand and shrewd planning to address the challenges of a rapidly digitising world.
Global spread, global threats First, we should not forget that most industries have seen competition skyrocket, often because of the ready availability of digital platforms. Where previously, entrepreneurs only needed to out-manoeuvre players in their local sandbox, now threats can come from anywhere in the world. Scaling up is child’s play, because of the cloud, so digitisation begets digitisation because of the globalisation of business. The new global state of play has led to businesses that are continually growing and spreading to other geographies. IT follows suit — expanding, changing shape and adopting technologies
