I've been asked to write up a paragraph on what I consider to be the key challenges driving my security agenda as a discussion starter for a forthcoming roundtable that I'll be chairing. I think it's all rather neatly summed up as follows:"It is vital that we ensure our security strategy is appropriately aligned with the direction of the business, and as we develop new online platforms to include features such as communities, blogs, and other dynamic user generated content, the challenge is to ensure that these are delivered with security built in from day one. As we consolidate and centralise many of our internal network services, bringing all of our regional business units up to a common standard in terms of both technology and in-house knowledge is also no easy task. Looking forward, we're putting a lot more data and placing a good deal more reliance with third party service providers: I doubt that the full scope of risk relating to "cloud" based services is really yet known. Finally, a clearly defined network perimeter is a thing of the past. We don't really know where all our assets are any more. This situation is only going to expand as we become much more mobile and dynamic in the way that we work.
