Security Scares Ahead for CFOs and IT
BLOG: And more, in Part Two of our 12 for '12: Tech trends jolting to CFOs.
Welcome back to those of you who didn’t get your fill of technology challenges in the first installment of the new year’s Daunting Dozen. We started with unified communications, the potential peril of bring-your-own-devices craze, Microsoft, inventory that talks to you, and various cloud issues.
As promised, we pick up with one of the broadest – and toughest.
7 -- Security
With over 75% of workers in some organizations already using personal devices in the workplace, you need to ensure your teams are equipped to research and reach the right decisions to ensure your companyʼs security against anticipated attacks.
Smaller enterprises may choose to develop their own in-house infrastructure but will CFOʼs release sufficient budget to keep things safe? Kroll thinks attacks on relatively less well-protected small to medium enterprises are likely, using anything from social engineering to SQL injections.
This also means youʼll need to audit your existing equipment -- do you have any legacy systems which could be undermined for access to your whole network?
"Expect at least one digital attack in 2012 to cause a significant repercussion to a physical infrastructure system," warns Watchguard.
2012 will be a year in which enterprises will have to balance internal and external customer need with their security and switched-on online systems. These decisions will be strategic and, potentially, volatile. Oh, and the reputation of your business will depend on making the right moves. No pressure, then!
8 -- Management and Hierarchy
How does your business take decisions? The advantages of increasing our reliance on online systems offers so much efficiency, the risk is if your enterprise is capable of reaching a decision as fast as the data you are receiving. Will your teams be swimming in deep quicksands of information overload, and will existing systems be flexible enough to deal with the unexpected.
When did you last review you business control systems? When did you last assess your security systems? Who is part of your rapid response teams? What will you do?
9 -- Social Media
Itʼs all about social media. Which services will you permit for use in-house? Do you have systems and permissions covering what staff can and cannot talk about using these services? Are you security protected? The Arab Spring told us social media can help overturn governments. How do you make sure youʼre both relevant to this new age, and protected against bad consequences?
The sheer quantity of unfiltered information undermines productivity: 41.4% of respondents miss important news because of information overload.
10 -- Do You Really Need a PC?
IDC expects the worldwide mobile worker population to increase from 919.4 million in 2008 (29% of the worldwide workforce), to 1.19 billion in 2013, or 34.9% of the workforce.
The new mobile devices are powerful. Do you need a PC at your reception, or will an iPad do the job? When it comes time to upgrade, will you choose a PC, Mac, or a cheaper mobile device.
