The internet has evolved far beyond even what its creators could have imagined. More than 40 years ago it was merely a connection of neurons, a sleeping mind that connected some government entities and universities to one another, allowing them to communicate in a trusted environment. Today it is a vast hive mind that consists of billions of users and devices. It is data, ideas, applications, routers, switches and so much more. It is also the new world of hyperconnectivity that demands more from business, user and security.
Today, according to the Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodoligy, 2016-2021, busy-hour internet traffic is growing faster than average internet traffic with a whopping increase to 51% in 2016 alone. Smartphone traffic is set to exceed PC traffic by 2021 and the global internet traffic of 2021 is set to be 127 times the volume of the entire global internet in 2005.
In a recent presentation, Fortinet states that this era of hyperconnectivity is also creating exponential data growth from 4,700 GB/Sec in 2005 to 211, 300 GB/Sec in 2015. Data has increased by a significant magnitude and it isn’t going to slow down. It’s not a trend, it’s an unstoppable force. It is also putting one question in neon lights – how do we protect these vast repertoires of data?
The answer lies in the approach. It is no longer possible to tackle the security scrum of today with the technology and approach of yesterday. It used to be about securing the connection, now it is about recognising the impact of mobile, cloud, the Internet of Things (IoT), connectivity and as-a-Service. It is about recognising that securing the end point and the connections on the network is no longer enough. It is time to secure the infrastructure, to place security within the very fabric of the network, organisation and internet, providing advanced threat protection across every node and point of contact.
It is essential that you integrate your security, creating a powerful solution that provides you with comprehensive visibility while remaining scalable and dynamic enough to pivot on demand. Rigid controls and systems are far more easily broken than those that are capable of adapting to innovation, change and network demand. Ultimately, a powerful solution will increase performance without placing strain on existing infrastructure – you need a solution that isn’t going to weigh an already strained network down.  You also need security that’s capable of scale and it needs to do so automatically. There is little time for the minutiae in the enterprise – your security has to be able to auto-scale to map back to capacity, auto-provision rules to new workloads, and to scale web and social apps at the right speed. It has to fit within the demands of cloud, cope with the mercurial requirements of aaS and IoT and it has to work with the systems already in place.
In short, the key word to describe the security of the new world is integration.
The reason? The business doesn’t want to have to worry about a thousand end points, legacy issues or architecture that isn’t compatible. The CIO, the CISO – they want tools that work in tandem to delivery security that’s capable and agile.
It is a reason borne out by research recently undertaken by Interop ITX and Information Week in the 2018 State of Infrastructure study. The survey found that 60% of respondents put network security as the leading investment priority – second place at only 31% was reducing costs with 26% focusing on improving network utilisation and efficiency.  Ultimately, the Equifax breach, the recent SA data dump and the endless list of successful attacks and data captures has made it very clear to every enterprise – security is essential. The evolving challenges around network capacity and data flow add new dimensions to the security puzzle making it more complex than ever. How does the business secure every corner of this new world? The answer isn’t cut and dried, but the message is clear – carefully.
Until next time, thank you for your continued support of First Technology.
Warm Regards
Johan de Villiers Managing Director
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