Fighting digital adversaries means knowing your network
For听Cris Thomas, not much has changed since the late-90s.听
Then,听testifying before Congress听as a听fresh-faced 20-something听under the alias Space Rogue, he warned that many digital defenders couldn鈥檛 properly safeguard their networks. The software companies Americans trusted to write secure programs, he said, simply refused to fix vulnerabilities found by security researchers.听
鈥淭he fundamental, basic undercurrents of security hasn鈥檛 changed that much in all that time,鈥� said Mr. Thomas, now a strategist at Tenable Network Security.听 鈥漁ne of those fundamental things is knowing your network because you can鈥檛 secure what you don鈥檛 know.鈥澨�
Today, as digital connectivity touches our devices from our cars to our watches to our televisions, companies are more open to working with researchers 鈥� but that proliferation of software means cyberdefenders still struggle to keep up even if they are optimistic about their ability to counter future cyberthreats.听
That鈥檚 the upshot of Tenable鈥檚 recently-released听.
The听report gauges the attitudes and perceptions of security practitioners across the world in various industries. Given that insight, it also provided some key recommendations 鈥斕齛mong them,听鈥渒nowing yourself鈥� because 鈥測ou can鈥檛 secure what you can鈥檛 see.鈥�
Knowing yourself 鈥渕eans having continuous visibility into cloud, hybrid and on-premise environments,鈥� according to the report, 鈥渂ut organizations also have to stay ahead of security challenges that accompany new trends and technologies.鈥澨�
But, despite all the challenges these recommendations hint at, network protectors still feel confident in their ability to protect their users.听
One of the last questions asked in Tenable鈥檚 Cybersecurity Assurance Report Card was: 鈥淐ompared to this time last year, do you feel more optimistic or pessimistic about your organization鈥檚 ability to defend itself against cyber attacks?鈥澨�
Almost 90 percent of those asked felt the same or better about the future.听
鈥淎s a defender you鈥檙e getting beat down by all this red ink and breaches,鈥� said Thomas,听at a Passcode event this month.听
鈥淏ut you鈥檙e still maintaining a positive attitude: 鈥榊es, we can still defend our network. We can still defeat the bad guys. We鈥檒l live another day and fight the good fight.鈥欌�澨�
