Embedding cybersecurity into digital transformation

Embedding cybersecurity into digital transformation

It is highly important for organizations to make security the starting point, and not an afterthought. Despite the abundance of data breaches across the globe, security remains an afterthought for a vast majority of digital transformation activities undergone by current businesses such as; mobility, cloud services, and customer experience programs. Security is unfortunately seen as slowing down a project, rather than enabling its success. Understandably, however, with time pressure to get a project up and running, the lack of sensible security considerations is a problem for organizations striving for true cyber resilience and vigilance.

As apparent across today's digitized climate, with the increasing frequency and publicity of cyber-attacks getting grander and more complex, businesses must realize that their customers are more aware of cyber issues than ever before. Embedding a cybersecurity strategy at this point in time is a critical competitive advantage. According to a survey of IT and Security professionals, only 18% of organizations agreed that their security team had been involved in all their digital transformation projects, and 76% agreed that security considerations were added too late in the project, ultimately resulting in projects being delayed due to being retrofitted after key decisions had been made.12 In the same survey, 85% of respondents agreed that the security team could have done a better job if they had been included earlier in the project. The key challenge and overall objective for the security team is to reassure the organization that their IT infrastructure is secure and resilient. However, it is important for organizations today to understand that no digital transformation project should ever start without understanding its security implications.

Organizations who can harness these capabilities effectively will be able to create significant value and differentiate themselves, while others will find themselves increasingly at a disadvantage. More than ever, we are all heavily relying on the emerging digital economy. And as our organizations, government agencies, and critical infrastructures move to this ever-evolving digital model, a major security event could have catastrophic consequences for all of us. It is also important to remember that cybersecurity events do not care about political, social, or economic borders. When an infrastructure or economic system is brought down and compromised, everyone suffers.