FEATURE : DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION ensuring that the whole organisation and its business stakeholders are aligned .
Claude Schuck , Regional Director , Middle East at Veeam Software , said benefits aside , there are serious barriers to Digital Transformation that many customers are facing today . “ Staffing issues remain by far the top barrier to Digital Transformation initiatives . Your smart resources are tied up just keeping the lights on and apps running . To add to that , the reason most of your resources are tied up is due to the business need to keep your legacy systems active ,” he said . “ You have a business to run , and today these systems are driving that . It ’ s a hard truth – you need to continue to support your business while modernising to take advantages of the new innovations Digital Transformation can bring .”
Schuck pointed out thatthe other challenge CIOs face today is that these transformations were implemented in record time . “ Accurate planning of details and outcomes may not have been done effectively due to the rapid change in market conditions . These plans need to be re-evaluated and perfected to improve efficiencies and value back to the business ,” he said .
Maher Jadallah , Senior Director , Middle East and North Africa , Tenable , said organisations need a modern , comprehensive strategy to quickly and accurately identify vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in their dynamic infrastructures , that delivers clear guidance and recommendations on how to prioritise and remediate any risks . Jadallah said they also need developerfirst security solutions that are compatible with their
workflows to increase independence and deliver easily consumable code fixes to ensure security is baked in and threat actors locked out .
“ The first step is to truly understand the business environment . In short , the security team needs to make sure it can actively detect all assets and identify key processes across the entire attack surface wherever it resides – including any assets in the cloud , OT , and container environments . Security teams must identify all business-critical assets , applications , and services including who within the organisation ‘ owns ’ them and ensure focus is placed on risks affecting these systems first ,” he said .
Jadallah pointed out that by identifying the critical assets which the organisation relies upon to function , and the vulnerabilities affecting these systems , priority should be given to those vulnerabilities that are currently being exploited . “ This identifies the real operational risks versus theoretical threats to know what to focus on first .
Security teams should also determine whether they are assessing enough of the network . Rogue assets that can ’ t be seen could put the organisation at risk from critical vulnerabilities . The old adage of ‘ you can ’ t defend what you can ’ t see ’ still holds true so it ’ s important to eliminate blind spots ,” he advised . “ By collaborating more effectively internally from the beginning , organisations will have greater security without compromising efficient business operations .” p
Maher Jadallah , Senior Director , Middle East and North Africa , Tenable
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