To capture opportunities made possible by ever-expanding connectivity, security must evolve in lock-step.
This is according to Paolo Campoli, head of Middle East and Africa global SP sales and SP CTO for the EMEA sales region at Cisco.
The network must become the "security device" and likewise, the deployment of network services through virtualised technologies requires security considerations, says Campoli.
He points out to truly address today's dynamic threat landscape, evolving business models, and considerable complexity, security must be embedded into the heart of the intelligent network infrastructure and across the extended network, he adds. That is from the data centre out to the mobile endpoint and even onto the factory floor, notes Campoli.
"As connectivity continues to expand, security must advance right along with it. By embedding security everywhere across the extended network, not only does security become more effective against advanced attacks, it also becomes a business enabler.
"Only then can businesses take full and secure advantage of opportunities presented by new digital business models and the Internet of everything.
Gartner says enterprises are overly dependent on blocking and prevention mechanisms that are not effective against advanced attacks.
They need comprehensive protection that requires an adaptive protection process - integrating predictive, preventive, detective and response capabilities.
James Stevenson, a solution sales specialist advanced threat protection at Blue Coat, says the traditional security strategy has primarily focused on a prevention-based strategy that is made up of intrusion detection systems, intrusion prevention system and antivirus which cannot detect targeted attacks.
Today, security is multifaceted, involving software, people and processes, and no single party can be responsible for security from end to end. Rather, security should be thought of as an ecosystem in which everyone in the value chain plays a role, especially as we become increasingly connected and as more business and personal functions migrate to applications, says Martin Walshaw, senior engineer at F5 Networks.
Rather, security should be thought of as an ecosystem in which everyone in the value chain plays a role, especially as we become increasingly connected and as more business and personal functions migrate to applications, he adds.
Equally important is understanding that security is a daily process that requires organisations and vendors to consistently enhance and adapt their approaches, because what worked today may not work tomorrow, says F5 Networks.
There will never be a security revolution. The war will be won through evolving strategies and collaboration but the industry has a lot of work to do in terms of sharing information, it adds.
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