A Gathering of Minds: The Gartner Summit

The digital business world is fluid and dynamic, getting more complex every day. So, too, is the black hat underground. Risk and security managers must stay ahead of the technology curve to be sure that their security investments are effective against the latest attack methods. The Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit, held in National Harbor, MD this week, offered thought leadership and advice on building a resilient security program. Attendees also heard about innovative strategies and emergent solutions to protect digital business. Tenable employees Schylr Greggs, Analyst Relations Manager, and Joanne Rasch, Vice President of Corporate Communications, attended the Summit and share their impressions here.

Key trends and insights

Earl Perkins, Research Vice President for Gartner, delivered an excellent presentation on the Top Trends and Take-Aways for Cybersecurity. His session summarized the conference’s messaging, key trends in the marketplace, and strategies for mitigating future threats. Perkins’ insights also echoed common themes throughout the Summit, including:

• We can no longer depend on defensive technologies; better risk-driven threat detection and continuous monitoring are essential.
• Software-defined security is just as important as physical security solutions; application resiliency must be baked into the development lifecycle.
• Public cloud security is a partnership. Cloud providers are not responsible for all aspects of security in the cloud – look to application developers/providers and your own IT department to augment cloud infrastructure security.
• Watch for the growth of cloud security brokerage services that provision cloud offerings, mediate security requirements, evaluate cloud services, and negotiate contracts between clients and vendors.
• Real time security analytics are becoming more crucial to prevention and mitigation as the frequency of malicious attacks increases.
• The Internet of Things, industrial automation, mobile devices and wearable sensors are redefining the scope of endpoint security strategies.
• Security technologies must evolve to include adaptive and context-aware solutions to fortify identity and access management, and data-centric applications.

The evolution of cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is evolving rapidly. A strong theme at the Summit was that continuous monitoring is no longer an option – it’s a requirement for digital business. Organizations must invest quickly while properly configuring tools if they are to adapt and survive in current and future environments.

In his keynote address, Cory Doctorow, Science Fiction Novelist and Journalist, noted that “Security is a process, not a product.” Defense in depth, layered defenses, and continuous monitoring all contribute to a resilient security program; no one product or solution can provide complete protection.

Look to Tenable to lead the way in continuous network monitoring and advanced threat detection.