| | December 20208CIOReviewIN MY OPINIONBy Arash Ghazanfari, Field CTO and Principal Technologist, Dell Technologies [NYSE: DELL]THE ROLE OF SECURITY IN ENABLING A DATA-DRIVEN BUSINESS STRATEGYNAVIGATING A CHALLENGING REGULATORY LANDSCAPETo thrive and maintain growth in digitally transformed economies, businesses must become technologically driven. Market forces demand more from businesses and those not willing, or able to, adapt and move forward, will inevitably be left behind. Customers demand more relevant and personalised value-added services, that can be consumed seamlessly. A data-driven strategy is critical in continuous innovation and developing a competitive edge.With an accumulation of data comes other challenges. Regulatory requirements are typically perceived as barriers to innovation. It is true that policymakers have a responsibility to create a supportive regulatory landscape to protect our rights, but this can be done without stifling innovation. GDPR and other regulatory measures inspired by it are all about giving the individual control over one's own personal and private information. There are benefits to embracing the GDPR framework, where businesses that respect this right and adhere to GDPR by having transparent and clear privacy policies will enjoy increased consumer confidence and can exploit newly found business opportunities.Organisations that provide their customers with granular control over their personal data, tend to create more strategic and long-lasting relationships with increased loyalty. Customers will be more likely to share various aspects of their personal data in exchange for products and services that are more relevant to them. Businesses can build a trusted platform and a valuable ecosystem around their offerings.SECURE-BY-DEFAULT ARCHITECTURESDeveloping a data-driven business model can only be achieved through establishing intrinsic security within the fabric of the business architecture. It is vital to maintain information integrity throughout the entire data supply chain.We are seeing the rise of increasingly sophisticated attacks. Bad actors can subtly manipulate data at source and corrupt the information supply chain. It is important that data maintains its integrity throughout its lifecycle, and the models and systems that are designed to extract insight from data are not compromised in any way. To help mitigate such risks, businesses need to adopt secure by default, yet change-friendly architectures; and develop secure-from-the-start software and application delivery methodologies.A bolt-on approach to acquiring and deploying numerous security controls invariably creates friction. Businesses must avoid the temptation of "point solution thinking" in an effort to reduce their overall exposure. Lack of a comprehensive technology acquisition and deployment framework without focusing on the desired strategic security outcomes will lead to a proliferation of bolt-on and disjointed security controls. This can lead to a substantial increase in operating costs whilst also adversely impacting the overall security posture within the enterprise.By starting with the end goal in mind and developing intrinsically secure systems and processes, the time to insight is accelerated. Without a doubt, intrinsically secure businesses are also more resilient. Secure-by-default architectures enhance operational resiliency by maintaining multiple pathways to recovery. Teams will be empowered to take calculated risks, accelerate innovation, to fail-fast and learn-faster and to thrive in a culture of continuous improvement and value delivery.The majority of the advanced threats that organisations receive are either tailor-made to the targeted organisation or are aimed at specific industry verticals
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