As the cyber threat from determined hackers escalates, so the chief information officer is the important last line of defence
Accepting that data, be it the intellectual property a business is built on or the personally identifiable information held on behalf of customers, forms an integral part of the company from a strategic viewpoint is not optional. With threats growing both in volume and sophistication, the chief information officer (CIO) now has a truly pivotal role in the success of any business.
The trouble with examining the cyber threat-scape and attempting to draw lessons from attack examples is that it tends to be one-way traffic: there’s plenty of post-breach analysis, but precious little information from organisations that have successfully fought off an attack. We the media are partly responsible as “man didn’t bite dog” is hardly a news story and organisations don’t routinely reveal details of unsuccessful attacks as they are too plentiful. When they do, however, there are lessons to be learnt.