Cybersecurity Innovation Must Match the Information Revolution

The information technology arena is experiencing large tectonic shifts that are directly affecting requirements for cybersecurity. Transitions-from physical to virtual; from the premise to the cloud; from more formal networks to social networks-will have their counterparts in new security requirements and approaches. According to Don Proctor, senior vice president, Software Group, Cisco, innovation should be a strategy for managing risk. Speaking at an industry panel on cybersecurity at TechNet Asia Pacific 2009, being held in Honolulu, Hawaii, November 2-5, he said that the threat is dynamic, not static. "We're playing a cat and mouse game." We need a process based on innovation that helps us keep ahead of our adversaries, he stated. But that innovation is not reaching the security realm easily. Proctor said that the "innovation gap" must be reduced. Today's processes mean that, by definition, we are deploying technology that is two or three years old. Our adversaries are not encumbered by that process, he added.