Security is Everyone’s Responsibility

I was delighted to attend the inaugural session of NetApp SecCon, our first-ever Security conference, to share my thoughts with a diverse and engaged audience. Here is a summary of what I spoke about. 

The ongoing evolution of digital transformation across every industry today is unparalleled in terms of pace. And one common theme here is data.

We are generating enormous volumes of data globally, and digital transformation has given corporate leaders the ability to process and leverage that data with greater insight and greater time-to-value than ever before. Enterprises are using data to create value, to create business opportunities, to optimize their infrastructure and, lastly, to be better and more efficient. They are using data to have conversations with their customers and to find customers they otherwise would never have.

Great Capabilities, Greater Complexity

In a significant shift, the transformation has enabled corporations to move their workloads and applications with more efficiency to the cloud. This has resulted in a whole new layer of complexity being added to the digital transformation process. One such complexity is the data moving beyond traditional data centers. To deliver its value, data must move. And this move must be secure – inherently and totally.

Security today is among the top-most components of this digital transformation journey. It is a key reason why corporations dealing with data are worried about moving their applications or workloads to the cloud.

Earlier, enterprises would just have to secure their network perimeter; because everything was behind the perimeter wall and in their data centers, they could control it as they wanted.

This is not the case anymore. There are now many different silos of data across platforms, whether in service provider environments or in public clouds. Businesses would eventually want to move their data from one place to another to be able to analyze it and use it to make corporate decisions. That thought process has created a significant concern in terms of security and privacy.

Security Incidents and Breaches Are Growing

According to one report*, there were over 53,000 security incidents and more than 2,000 breaches in the last year, with such episodes showing a 27% year-on-year growth.

The cost of this breach is not just about losing dollars. Also at stake is an organization’s brand, along with losing hard-earned trust and credibility in the market.

While there are no foolproof solutions to block security threats entirely, prevention through investments in security can help limit the otherwise manifold consequences. Needless to say, you cannot put a price on the loss of trust. We must start building in security as we develop products, technologies, and applications, understand where the attack vectors can come from, identify vulnerabilities, and fix them before the product is shipped.

Stepping Up to Lead with Security as a Foundation

Security is everyone’s responsibility. At NetApp, we have established our position as the data authority in hybrid cloud and we cut no corners with our focus on delivering a secure experience for our customers. We ensure this at the outset by maintaining a strict watch on all aspects of development, integrating the Secure Development Lifecycle (#SDL) process into core products’ development lifecycles across engineering. Built-in Secure Multi Tenancy (#SMT) and Encryption, Secure Protocols, and File Based Security features and processes ensure that our customers receive the best secure solutions from NetApp. Our Product Security Incident Response (#PSIRT) team keeps a vigil on threats that may arise due to any external factors and issues timely advisories on our website: https://security.netapp.com/.

NetApp is an industry leader in developing and implementing product security standards. We partner with companies like @Gemalto, @Varonis, @Symantec, @Defend-X, @Cleondris, and @Stealthbits, among others, to create an industry-wide, secure perimeter for our customers. Our keen participation in standards bodies shows our commitment to security best practices.

Following this multi-pronged approach to security gives our customers the confidence to realize their hybrid cloud vision and reap the benefits of the NetApp Data Fabric.

Today, organizations are innovating as fast as they can to keep up with the accelerated digital transformation. But none of these innovations can afford to ignore Security as a foundation block for delivering the best customer value. Security first, innovation always! 

* Source: 2017 and 2018 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report and Executive Summary