Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 18 | Page 40

FEATURE: THREAT ASSESSMENT ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// should be and that all parties are fully cognisant of their roles. of the dangers, processes, protocols and technologies in place. Feeling safe “A well planned, easily viewable and integrated security solution coupled with a solid security policy helps businesses to build a secure environment, providing peace of mind for the organisation and its people,” said Zollner. n Ultimately, good security comes down to how safe employees feel within their environment and whether they are aware ORGANISATIONS SHOULD HAVE A MULTI-LAYER SECURITY STRATEGY IN PLACE. Adaptability and awareness are key to preventing cyber-attacks in 2018 Cybersecurity was a massive concern for most organisations in 2017 and, according to Paul Jolliffe, Lead DSM: Security at T-Systems South Africa, it looks to continue to be a headache for CIOs during this year. S ymantec recently released their cybersecurity predictions for 2018, listing the many concerns that CIOs and InfoSec specialists may have in store for them this year. The outlook is bleak and there is not sufficient knowledge of the threat landscape to prevent attacks. Organisations need to act to avoid potential threats as well as be prepared in the event of a breach. 40 INTELLIGENTCIO It is vital that organisations understand their own current security maturity, taking into account the existing cyber threat landscape and the industry in which they operate. This cannot be a generic check. Different parameters exist for various industries and every industry has a different threat or risk profile. A financial services provider for example, which deals with sensitive information daily will have different security requirements to say, a glass manufacturer. Despite different threat profiles, every industry also has exposure to the same types of threats that are out there. As the Symantec report evidences, there are several distinctive threats of which to be cognisant. Ransomware was the most talked about threat last year, however lesser www.intelligentcio.com