When you think of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) data breaches and information security aren’t usually top of mind. But knowing just how disruptive innovation can be, the organizers of this event created an enterprise technology forum, CES Government, to discuss the impact of the latest tech on society. CES Government attracts some of the country’s best and brightest information security leaders, including John Higginbotham, Chairman and CEO of Blue Ridge Networks, to strategize on securing our digital future.
Away from the spotlights and hustle of the show floor, Higginbotham along with Rear Admiral Edward “Sonny” Masso, USN (Ret.), and executives from the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, FBI, and other Federal, State, and Local organizations participated in the CES Government 2018 Cyber Roundtable. Their discussion focused on examining the very real threat that cyber attacks present to our economy and our national security as we build Smart Cities, embrace digital health, and live more of our lives online. Not surprisingly, especially looking at all the new tech on display on the show floor, it is increasingly difficult for all industries to keep pace with threats and threat vectors but particularly for government and industry critical infrastructure operators that are responsible for public safety and security.
To help industry leaders breakdown the complexities of the current cyber security landscape, Higginbotham and his fellow participants took a deep dive into key issues including:
- Today’s major cyber threats and how they have evolved over the past three years.
- What threats we are likely to be facing in the near future.
- Recent key developments in enterprise-grade data security
- And, how enterprises can effectively integrate new technologies into legacy infrastructure and architecture.
Catching up with Higginbotham after the roundtable he shared that “though we’re in a period of tech disruption with more ways to connect to each other, devices, networks, and critical infrastructure than ever before, it need not to be a period of information insecurity.”
For Higginbottom, whose organization Blue Ridge Networks is trusted by many federal agencies and commercial enterprises to secure critical infrastructure, the key to essentially eliminating vulnerabilities and entry points for cyber attacks, including those undetectable by traditional cybersecurity approaches, is to create secure enclaves that isolate critical operations on networks and endpoints, but still facilitates collaboration to take advantage of the efficiencies that these new interoperable technologies enable.
“It’s important to remember that the fundamentals of good cyber hygiene will always stand even the most complex, or target-rich, organization in good stead,” said Higginbotham. “Then,” he continued, “put cyber security vendors through their paces to find the solutions that empower mission success without compromising on information security, or requiring you to re-architect your existing IT infrastructure to work effectively.”
Traditional network security solutions that work by scanning traffic to detect threats are becoming increasingly overwhelmed by the volume and velocity of threats as well as the number of devices that most organizations and agencies need to connect to the enterprise network. In order to be effective in today’s highly connected and inherently complex network environments organizations, security solutions need to find new ways to manage secure connectivity while circumventing complexity.
While it sounds like an impossible task, Higginbotham provided plenty of assurance that it is possible to bring new layers of defense to bear to help address the cybersecurity challenge. “To my mind it’s all about creating secure enclaves that ensure the privacy and integrity of the protected traffic through eliminating the risk of unauthorized access with pre-authenticated endpoints and having the tools to enforce policies. This can be accomplished without disrupting the user experience at lower costs and higher efficiency to increase enterprise productivity.”
Learn more about robust and resilient cyber security solutions for a connected world here.
