Putting Security into Technology
In theory, businesses know that technology and security must go hand-in-hand for sustained success. They understand that one without the other is a recipe for disaster. And in the light of some high-profile breaches against major retail, healthcare and financial organizations, it’s easy for them to see the true cost of neglecting security.
Yet, when it comes to putting those theories into practice, most businesses fail to do the needful. Their approach to security is perfunctory – risk-based if you will – where the need to keep critical data, technologies and operations secure is balanced against the risk that a breach of some sort is bound to occur. Despite being effective sometimes, it’s a dangerous approach to security that is neither warranted nor wise.
Why? Because now the stakes are higher. Given the rise of Web 2.0 and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, which create an entire labyrinth of embedded software, real-time data and technologies, the ‘risks’ contained within typical risk-based approaches have increased. And unless you don’t mind crashing and failing, you cannot rely on it anymore.
The need is to put security front and center by embedding it into technology itself. The need is to create secure embedded software and devices or to rewrite the code in extant software and devices, to make them more robust. To put it simply, the need is for businesses to invest in and make use of secure embedded software development that combats security risks from within. Why? Because integrating security into the embedded software development life cycle is the best, most effective way to put security into technology.
