The rate of change in the technology world is amazing and I’m constantly seeing new apps, services, and products which all focus on doing amazing niches. I’m constantly hearing ideologies like Best of Breed etc. However as I start to put a security lens over this mindset I start to see flaws. The consistent spawn of new apps and services creates massive overheads on maintaining simple and effective security. While solutions like identity management systems can help reduce the burden not every solution offers this. Some solutions have limited permission controls and some have no 3rd party backup solutions. The solution architect in me, cringes as I imagine the web of technology with broken links that require humans to fulfill. The security architect in me screams as it sees all the complexity, the monitoring required, the documentation reviews to ensure it meets internal standards or regulation.
Australia is becoming more cyber aware which is brilliant for too long small to medium businesses considered themselves not vulnerable or not holding data. However, the media has created a frenzy with reporting on major breaches which have now impacted most Australians. This has in turn made everyone aware of what it feels like to have their data breached and now medium and small businesses (SMB) are focused on becoming more secure.
The challenge that SMB’s face is they usually have complex architecture because there was not a plan. Different stakeholders brought the right app for the right task to get the job done, which is brilliant from a productivity perspective. They were embracing the technology and learning how to scale and grow their business. Now the challenge comes how do we secure all these various products? How do we have small businesses think about architecture and planning out their various products to provide the right balance of security and productivity.
The answer is the eco-system…