12
The Malta Independent | Thursday 23 April 2015
Wide gap between perception and reality of perimeter security effectiveness anti-virus should be part of a much greater security strategy. IT decision makers need to take into account that if someone is motivated enough they will breach a network, no matter how well it is protected,” said Tsion Gonen, Vice President of Strategy for Identity and Data Protection at Gemalto.
A
wide gap is emerging between the perception and the reality of perimeter security effectiveness amongst global IT decision makers. A recent report by Gemalto, a company specialised in digital security, reveals increasing levels of investment in this area of data protection, despite an exponential growth in the number of data breaches. The report provides the latest findings of the 2015 Data Security Confidence Index (DSCI). Investments in breach prevention rise despite increased breaches of perimeter security The number of global data breaches continues to increase according to Gemalto’s Breach Level Index (BLI), more than 1,500 data breaches led to one billion data records compromised in 2014 alone, a 49% increase in data breaches and a 78% increase in
data records stolen or lost compared to 2013. Despite this the DSCI research shows that almost nine out of ten (87%) IT decision makers feel their organisation’s perimeter security systems are effective at keeping out unauthorised users. The study shows that IT decision makers are looking to further increase their investment in perimeter security with 64% looking to do so in the next 12 months. Interestingly, when thinking of the most recent breaches, the average amount of breached data protected by encryption was below 8%, highlighting the need for a more robust data protection strategy.
Low confidence in ability to prevent breaches and unauthorised user access Nevertheless, a third (33%) believe unauthorised users are still able to access their networks and a further 34% are not confident in the security of their organisation’s data, should a breach occur. In fact, the DSCI survey reveals that as a result of recent high profile breaches, 71% of organisations have adjusted their security strategy, but are still focused on perimeter security. Adding to the confusion, nearly three quarters of IT decision makers (72%) stated that their investment in perimeter security has increased over the past five
years, though 30% admitted that in the past 12 months their company has been victim to a breach, showing the need to approach security differently. Although high-profile data breaches have driven over seven in 10 (71%) organisations to adjust their security strategy, more than three in five (62%) respondents are no more confident than they were this time last year in the security industry’s ability to detect and defend against emerging security threats. “With the number of sophisticated breaches on the rise, relying on perimeter security systems alone is no longer enough. Traditional security staples such as firewalls and
Commercial impacts of data breaches As a result of these attacks, nine out of 10 organisations (90%) suffered negative commercial consequences, including delays in product or service development (31%), decreased employee productivity (30%), decreased customer confidence (28%), and negative press (24%). This highlights the severe consequences of data breaches, which can be damaging both to an organisation’s reputation and bottom line, as well as to customers’ confidence in entire industry sectors. “Organisations still place too much emphasis on perimeter security, even though it has proven to be ineffective”, added Gonen. “Decision makers should place greater importance on customer data, and look to adopt a ‘secure the breach’ approach that focuses on securing the data after intruders penetrate the perimeter defences. This means they need to attach security directly to the data itself using multi-factor authentication and data encryption, as well as securely managing encryption keys. That way, if the data is stolen, it is useless to the thief.”
Celebrating world creativity and innovation week at MITA benefits organisations at the individual, group and organisational level. Making time for creative thinking can translate into organisational benefits in the long run. When we talk about adding value these days we no longer refer explicitly to the adding on of features. Value is now looked at from the point of view of knowledge used in conjunction with creativity and innovation in an effort to constantly enhance performance and provide new and improved offerings. Furthermore, sustainability is a key factor that every business aims for, and creativity and creative management could lead to sustainable business development.
Margaret Mangion
T
he world around us is changing rapidly. Technological advancements have led to a quicker pace of change. The ability to embrace change in its various manifestations is key to survival, therefore, organisations today need to be more responsive to change and adopt a heightened level of creativity and flexibility that would allow them to react or anticipate the fluctuating environment in which they operate. Traditionally seen as a field in which people worked in silos or in which the sharing of ideas may not have been prevalent, Information Technology (IT) today is an area were creativity is rife. With skills such as the anticipation of user needs, generation of solutions, and problem identification and solving, IT professionals can claim that they are
constantly required to be creative. In response to the above, MITA held a workshop on creative thinking, where members of staff were given the opportunity to appreciate their creative potential and exploit it through the use of methods that can foster creative effort. This interactive session, which was conducted by Dr Margaret Mangion – a lecturer at the Edward de Bono Institute for the Design and Development of Thinking at the University of Malta – was held in celebration of World Creativity and Innovation Week
(http://wciw.org). Creativity and innovation nowadays form part of the everyday terminology used in a variety of settings. The two terms appear to have a transferable meaning that could transcend different strata of society at large. Employers often state that they aim to engage creative and innovative employees, but who are these individuals and where are they found? One could say that the myths behind creativity lead us to think of the creatives as flamboyant artists, musicians, poets and other individuals who could fit a
category in which new creations and important contributions are made. However, creativity can be interpreted in a much wider sense today. It appears to be the currency that most, businesses and individuals alike wish to make use of, and with good reason. A creative person is one who can be flexible in one’s thought and able to generate alternative solutions to a given problem. Traditionally thought of as being available only to a gifted few, the modern view of creativity is that it is a skill that can be learned and fostered. Creativity in its various forms
Tips to enhance creativity in your organisation: • Make time for creativity • Creative Thinking can be fun – organise activities that inspire members of staff • Work on different projects requiring different skills • Encourage individual and team creativity • Encourage group thinking • Tap into every individual’s knowledge and views of the various issues at hand • Encourage the assessment of issues from different perspectives • Encourage active participation
13
The Malta Independent | Thursday 23 April 2015
Roderick Spiteri
Roderick Spiteri is Marketing and Communications Manager at MITA and editor of Malta Independent ICT feature
The Malta Independent ICT Feature
S
ecurity breaches are becoming a real headache for most organisations. A recent report shows that the number of global data breaches is on the increase and estimates show that during 2014 there were 32 data records lost or stolen per second – an increase of 78% from the previous year. On a positive
angle, the same study shows that the investment in this area is also increasing. As part of the World Creativity and Innovation Week (April 15 – 21) people are acknowledged, informed, inspired and encouraged to use their creativity and one of the events locally was targeted at MITA staff. The dynamic and quick changes in the ICT field
means that professionals working in this sector have to constantly be creative. The use of smartphones and tablets is increasing in all sectors of society. A new study shows that managers and owners of small and medium-sized businesses want the same business applications and data that they access at their workplace to be ac-
cessible through their mobile devices. All ICT Features are available on www.mita.gov.mt/ictfeature
Vast majority want mobile access to their business apps and data 86% of managers and owners of small and medium-sized businesses think that their business software should be mobile accessible. Moreover, almost 75% of managers use their mobile every day to access business data whilst 15% access their work data at least once or twice a week. These findings were revealed by GetApp - a cloud-based business apps marketplace. The research, based on responses from a panel of more than 1000 business owners, was conducted as
part of GetApp’s independent research program, GetData. The program aims to fully understand the true impact of SaaS (Software as a Service) and cloudbased solutions on small and medium-sized businesses, while also understanding how SaaS customers interact with their products and services. While 86.9% of the panel say that their business software should be mobile accessible, over a third, 36.2%, say that it’s absolutely necessary. Only 13.1% of
the panel say that mobile accessibility for their business apps isn’t important. With regards to accessing business data through their mobile, 73.5% do it on a daily basis, 15% do it once or twice a week, 3.3% once or twice a month, 3.3% sporadically throughout the years whilst 4.9% never do so. Christophe Primault, cofounder and CEO of GetApp, says, “It’s no secret that today, mobile is more important than it’s ever been for businesses.
What this latest research confirms is that it’s no longer good enough for a business app to provide an excellent desktop-only experi-
ence. More and more, businesses want feature-rich apps that can move around as much as they do.”