TRANSFORM YOUR IT SECURITY IN 3 STEPS

Transform Your IT Security in 3 Steps SECURITY IS TOP OF MIND FOR EVERY BUSINESS Security risks are high for businesses in every industry, and they are continuing to escalate. According to a recent study, the average total cost of a data breach increased from $3.52 million to $3.79 million in just one year. 2 For organizations that are embracing cloud and virtualized environments, maximum visibility and control are key to mitigating this risk. As people, devices, and objects become more connected, protecting all these connections and environments has become more critical than ever. In a recent survey of IT priorities, 69 percent of respondents told Tech Pro Research that improving security represented their top IT initiative for 2017.1 In the same survey, respondents also said security would be their biggest IT challenge in the year ahead. That’s because IT organizations need to secure each and every interaction between users, applications, and data—however and wherever they are connecting. And they need to do it in an environment that is constantly changing, and increasingly dynamic. 1 “IT Budget Research: Where CXOs are placing their bets for 2017,” Tech Pro Research, July 2016. 2 https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/analysis/securing-cloud-sdn/2016/05/. 3 “Cost of Data Center Outages” Ponemon Institute, January 2016. 4 Ibid. 3 THE STAKES ARE HIGH FOR SECURITY • Cybercrime represents the fastest-growing cause of data center outages, rising from 2 percent in 2010 to 22 percent in 2016.3 • Average cost of a data center outage is rising to $740,357 in 2016.4 Transform Your IT Security in 3 Steps EVOLVING RISKS IN A DYNAMIC THREAT LANDSCAPE Every business has become a digital business—a transformation that’s given rise to significant changes on the IT landscape, and consequently new challenges for IT security. Start with the evolution of application infrastructures, which have transitioned from on-premises data centers that run physical infrastructure to highly dynamic environments that reside on public and private clouds. And consider how applications themselves are changing. Organizations are moving away from monolithic application stacks to distributed, multi-tiered apps that are based on microservices. As the workforce becomes more mobile and distributed, end-user environments are evolving as well. They are no longer limited to corporately managed desktops, but are centered around mobile devices, bring your own device (BYOD) initiatives, and the Internet of Things (IoT). 4 As a result, traditional network perimeter security models are no longer sufficient to protect the sprawl of applications and users, or to meet escalating compliance requirements. Environments and users aren’t contained neatly behind perimeter firewalls, but instead require more flexible, agile protection against attackers that have become more sophisticated. Cyberspace has become increasingly weaponized. Even an inexperienced hacker—using toolkits such as Zeus and BlackPoS— can target a business with advanced attacks that can do real damage to its productivity, resources, and reputation. As we adjust to account for these developing challenges at the doorstep, compliance standards are becoming increasingly complex—forcing the average IT team to spend 20 percent of its time on compliance efforts.