Increased connectivity means greater need for cyber security

Vienna - "Corporations are like people. There preparation for such things varies depending on their perspective."

Dubai's shift towards 'Smart Government' has opened new possibilities for companies involved in cyber protection, according to executives speaking at F5 Network's Agility Conference in Vienna.
Garth Braithwaite, Regional Director - Middle East and Turkey at F5 Networks, noted that increased digital connectivity on the part of companies and government entities means that there is a greater need for cyber security elements to be put in place. "Obviously, the more things you have, the more things that are connected, the more things that you need to protect," he said. "Particularly in Dubai, you have a lot of applications, and each of these applications needs to have some kind of protection.
"The smarter the government becomes, the more protection you're going to need to have for those applications, not only to protect themselves, but to protect the data of the users and encourage them to use those facilities," he added. "We're seeing an increase in terms of awareness."
F5 Chief Information Security Officer Mike Convertino noted that there is tremendous variance in the preparedness of businesses to take steps to protect themselves.
"Corporations are like people. There preparation for such things varies depending on their perspective. I think some companies are well prepared and I'd be very confident in them, and some others don't emphasise it," he said, noting that in some cases it takes a security incident to make companies realize the need to invest in protection infrastructure.
"It comes down to dollars and cents. If an organisation is less responsive to the potential threats versus actual occurrences, then yes, there are some companies that won't do anything until they're hit," he added. Additionally, Convertino noted that many areas of the world businesses have found difficulties attracting suitable cyber security talent.
"Globally, there is a lack of talent. The world is trying to develop more security people, with mixed success," he said. "What happens is that net salaries go up because they're rare and there are many unfilled positions, and the people that are trained, and do understand the space, simply won't move where they don't want to move."
"The most innovative companies, I think, find a way for security professionals to work remotely," he added.- bernd@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai