July 22, 2016
Cybersecurity has always been a horizontal technology practice that’s roughly the same across all industry sectors. Yes, some industries have different regulations, use cases or business processes that demand specific security controls, but overall every company needs things like firewalls, IDS/IPS, threat management gateways and antivirus software regardless.
Generic security requirements will remain forever, but I see a burgeoning trend transforming cybersecurity from a set of horizontal technologies to a vertical industry application. These drivers include:
While it sounds like industry hype, cybersecurity has actually become a boardroom issue and corporate boards understand industry-specific risks much better than technology gibberish about malware and exploits. To accommodate these corporate executives, CISOs will need communications skills, as well as tools and technologies that help translate cybersecurity data into meaningful industry and corporate risk intelligence that can drive investment and decision making. Security intelligence vendors like BitSight and SecurityScorecard are already exploiting this need, offering industry-centric cybersecurity metrics for business use.
