The changing dynamics of risk management, outsourcing and the opportunity for cloud computing were all subjects hotly debated by senior security professionals participating in a recent London meeting of the CSO Interchange, a high level forum geared to discussing hot topics of the day.

The overall theme for the day was ‘Getting smart: managing business better in the new economics’ and certainly economic pressures were a consistent undercurrent throughout the day’s discussion groups. The current economic downturn was seen as the greatest risk to organisations today and over 41 percent listed this as a more significant security risk than threats to data security from disgruntled employees or cyber crime attacks. Against this backdrop software-as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud computing were seen as opportunities that would grow significantly over the next five years.

In his opening speech at the event, Qualys CEO, Philippe Courtot, addressed the current economic down, outlining the current consolidation taking place in enterprise software and the corresponding rise of the software-as-a-service model. He predicted that security professionals will conclude that the SaaS model is a more effective alternative for securing data than having enterprises encumbered it with themselves. Cloud computing attracted some lively discussion during the day across the round tables.

87 percent of those surveyed at the event believe that SaaS services will replace enterprise software for mission critical applications within the next five years with 16 percent even believing this will happen within one year. 63 percent had already conducted an initial assessment of the value of cloud computing while the rest were now planning to do so. Traditional misconceptions about the security of SaaS are easing with 55 percent convinced that SaaS makes information easier to secure.

A different risk dynamic is evolving with the economic downturn. Risk and regulatory pressures were seen as key drivers in security strategy Outsourcing has become more prevalent – but not without due regard for essential risk management. 60 percent of the CSOs are outsourcing security services and 68 percent of have a complete approach to risk management in place to cover outsourcing.

http://www.csointerchange.org/

•Date:12th Dec 2008• Region: UK/World •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity
Rate this article or make a comment - click here