Security is a top priority for businesses despite the
economic downturn, says Howard Schmidt, president and chief
executive of the Information Security Forum (ISF).
"Many organisations have realised that data is the most
important business asset in the modern world," he told an
ISC2 security conference in London today.
This is driving a move away from simply strengthening the
security of IT systems to concentrating on the data itself and
reducing the vulnerabilities.
Priorities for security professionalsinclude developing and
using applications that are more securely designed and written.
"As long as we are producing and using software with inherent
security vulnerabilities we will continue to live in the past,"
said Schmidt.
Another important area for IT security is developing effective
ways to lock down mobile computing devices.
"There could be more than two billion mobile devices in use by
business organisations in the next few years and these need to be
secured," he said.
According to Schmidt, organisations should look to governance,
risk and compliance processes to protect them through the economic
downturn.
"Keeping these three things in mind is the only way IT
professionals can meet business needs while protecting
organisations' data assets with less money to throw at the
problem," he said.