The digital landscape has changed beyond recognition over the last ten years and continues to accelerate. Technological breakthroughs in the 4.0 era have opened up possibilities in the way enterprises are producing, in the way we work and in the services offered to customers. However, they have also given rise to new security risks. Businesses are now highly distributed, broadening attack surfaces and giving rise to shadow IT. Data is stored and processed across numerous places – cloud, edge, and even swarms. Digital is moving into things with mass proliferation of IoT and the convergence of IT and OT.
With new risks come new regulations with legislative frameworks increasingly shaping the digital world as we know it: the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Cybersecurity Act in Europe, and more recently in the US, regulatory changes to constrain the vital national services to a security approach after the Colonial Pipeline attack7.
With boundaries increasingly blurred between physical and digital, the impact of digital security is no longer limited to business or legal but extends to environmental and human impacts. It must be seen as the vital ingredient in achieving operational resilience and supporting digital transformation.
Within this context, CIOs and CISOs will have to tackle 5 main challenges in the years to come:
The “fortress” approach is no
longer effective:
boundaries between internal and external are blurring with front and center “users“ (internal/partners/customers), “assets” (Bring Your Own Device – BYOD), “data” and “applications” which are cloudified, moved at the edge. This leads to a new resources centric, identity based paradigm and requires a segregated approach.
A transition will have to happen to move:
on will have to happen to move from a patchwork of IT / OT solutions and cyber solutions to modern architectures secured by design.
There is a need to guarantee a level of protection over time to face evolving threats complex architecture (multi cloud + OP, edge, 4etc.)
There is an increasing demand for setting up secure collaborative mechanisms in a world where the new normal will be common industrial data platforms8, 9multi-sided industry data platforms and digital models with ecosystem platforms.
8Supply chain ecosystems established around Common Industrial data Platforms where participants will intentionally share data relating to design, production, operations and markets.
9Ex: “Consumer to grid”, “Building to grid” and “Vehicle to grid”
Faster go to marker digital services and pressure on cost savings are leading to accelerated developments, (code resuse, Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS), etc.) There is a risk to vulnerabilities as organizations may not have the right expertise and security mechanisms in place.
Atos’s take to address these challenges
- Organizations need to review their strategic business transformation plan, their state of legacy, their risks and transformation constraints to determine the best roadmap to strenghten their cybersecurity and transform their operational capacities. They should should set out an articulated approach and include a secure transition at business level.
- Risk assessment should be business-driven: everything is about choices. Organizations need to make tough security decisions (COTS building blocks versus customization, internalization versus external managed security services) based on based on the critical functions of their digital business. Organizations should evaluate the possibility for managed services to reduce complexity and guarantee that the level of time. It implies digital engineering as a first step.
- Data protection at the core: organizations can maintain the benefits of cloud use and cloud environments and ensure data protection with the right protective overlays (Bring Your Own Key, Bring Your Own Encryption).
- Implementing security-by-design approaches of the architecture, combining operational capabilities and security, will help reduce costs and improve efficiency. Organizations need to initiate groups bringing together expertise from IT, OT, and operations. Organizations should select in priority sovereign solutions or architectures and solutions compatible with technological innovations (post- quantum cryptography, biometrics, etc. will significantly boost productivity in the years to come).
In conclusion, Atos approach to digital security is based on two main recommendations:
Develop a corporate culture of security across your organizations. Major efforts should be focused on breaking silos A transition is essential to move between operations and security.
Adopt a zero trust approach, based based on protecting your resources instead of your perimeter.
Leading organizations that deploy cyber-physical systems are implementing enterprise- level CSOs to bring together multiple security-oriented silos both for defensive purposes and, in some cases, to be a business enabler. The CSO can aggregate IT security, OT security, physical security, supply chain security, product management security, and health, safety and environmental programs into a centralized organization and governance model.
Gartner top security & risk trends of 2020
CIOs will continue to seek opportunities to build sustainable digital capabilities for next generation infrastructure and applications.
According to IDC top trends for 2021
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