How to balance privacy and security with the need for speed

Today’s businesses and IT teams are increasingly expected to innovate quickly, respond rapidly to market changes, and deliver seamless customer experiences with minimal downtime. At the same time, while maintaining speed and agility is crucial to helping a business stay competitive, doing so can increase security and privacy risks exponentially. Finding better ways to balance such concerns with the need for momentum has therefore become one of the most pressing professional challenges for IT leaders.

Underscoring the point, global risk advisory firm Aon suggests that nearly three quarters of decision makersOpens a new window feel that their companies aren’t moving fast enough to address big-picture concerns. At the same time, the Cloud Security Alliance finds that roughly the same number feel unprepared to deal with today’s cybersecurity threatsOpens a new window . So how can you ensure data privacy and security without sacrificing the pace of business growth?

Let’s take a closer look.

Why the pace of change is accelerating

Modern customers increasingly expect instant responses from the various solutions and services they use for work, whether they’re accessing data, sourcing recommendations, or interacting with a brand. Companies are likewise under mounting pressure to innovate and deliver quickly, which is why speed is quickly becoming a major competitive differentiator.

But while operational speed can help drive business growth and agility, it also raises potential concerns when privacy and security take a backseat to growth and innovation.

Finding ways to balance security and privacy needs against the growing pressure for companies to move faster demands that IT leaders embrace a combination of strategic thinking and technology-based solutions.

Equally importantly, it also requires teams to promote a strong security culture across any given business. Just a few approaches that can help you strike such a delicate balance are as follows.

Make a shift to the left on security

Taking a “shift-left” approach to cybersecurity means instituting an assortment of security measures earlier in your development and operational processes. Strategies you can take include, but are not limited, to the below.

• DevSecOps: Making certain that related concerns are considered at every stage of the software development lifecycle. Doing so helps minimize the chances of accidentally introducing vulnerabilities into your systems and reduces the need for time-consuming post-deployment fixes.
• Automated security testing: Implementing automated security testing protocols during development phases to catch areas of concern like insecure code, vulnerabilities, and misconfigurations early.
• Continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD): Lets you practice rapid IT development while maintaining strong security standards by instituting checks at various IT project milestones without delaying the overall release schedule.

Leverage AI, automation & ML tools to aid in threat detection

Because of their ability to operate at scale, analyze huge amounts of data and adaptively learn from environments, AI and machine learning can also help you balance security and speed by automating threat detection and response. A few ways that you can put smart solutions to work:

• Automated threat detection and response: Using AI-based solutions such as those from Darktrace, Palo Alto Networks and ExtraHop to power automated incident response efforts, help minimize potential incidents and reduce the time to contain threats. By way of illustration, you can use AI-powered scanning solutions to automatically isolate affected apps and systems, alert system administrators, and even initiate recovery steps without human involvement.
• Behavioral scanning and analytics: Also, IT teams can use AI-powered behavioral analytics tools to identify insider threats or watch for unusual user activity. That way, you and your team can act on any potential threats before they escalate.
• Adaptive security measures: Machine learning capabilities also enable such solutions to learn from each interaction and automatically adjust to new threats as they evolve.

Put an assortment of privacy-enhancing technologies in place

With privacy regulations and government oversight only becoming more stringent, companies need to adopt technologies that protect user data and maintain compliance while still offering fast services going forward. Again, a host of IT solutions providers and strategies can help you stay compliant:

• Data masking: Hiding sensitive information so that it can be collected, analyzed and processed securely without exposing it to unwanted parties.
• Tokenization: Replacing sensitive data with nondescript placeholders in the form of tokens, limited potential points of compromise.
• Designing for privacy: Designing solutions to minimize unnecessary data collection, anonymizing any information compiled, and ensuring that users have control over their data.

Embrace online security tools and best practices

Embracing digital transformation and moving business operations to the cloud can significantly improve organizational speed and agility. At the same time, it also requires the adoption of strong security and privacy controls. For instance:

• Identity and access management (IAM): Tools like Okta, Ping Identity and SailPoint manage user access, segment systems, and limit access to sensitive data and networks.
• Multi factor authentication (MFA): Look for solutions that offer role-based access control (RBAC) and multifactor authentication (MFA) processes.
• Data visualization and oversight: Gain visibility into where sensitive information resides in your IT infrastructure and understand how it travels across the organization.
• Third-party audits: If you’re planning to use third-party services, make certain that IT partners undergo regular security audits, align with your corporate SLAs and standards, and are compliant with any necessary privacy regulations.

Promote a secure, privacy-first culture

Of course, even the best IT solutions and most artificially-intelligent safeguards can prove ineffective in the face of human error. As such, embracing a culture of security and privacy in your business is foundational to maintaining the delicate balance between speed and safety. A few points to keep in mind here follow.

• Train and retrain employees: Use training simulations, live and online classes, and hands-on activities to keep employees updated on security best practices and emerging threats. Refresh this learning every 3-4 months.
• Formalize an incident plan: As part of your cybersecurity program, establish clear and well-defined policies that all employees can follow. Likewise, established guidelines covering areas like data protection, incident response, and regulatory compliance.
• Promote company-wide collaboration: Encourage active learning and collaboration between different teams to help others understand how information and business processes work in practice. Doing so also helps promote greater communication and collaboration, helping staffers know where to turn and encouraging them to speak up when concerns arise.

Operating security in a fast-moving environment

As fast as today’s business world now moves, balancing the need for speed with the need for privacy and security is becoming increasingly vital.

Thankfully, when you make a point to integrate security and privacy best practices into business operations and processes from day one, and promote a culture of awareness, doing so doesn’t have to be difficult.

Better still, a host of new AI- and ML-powered tools make it easier and more cost-effective than ever to stay cybersecure without compromising your ability to maneuver quickly and strategically.