The Rise of the Chief Information Security Officer

Although the defenses against enemies that humans have been building for centuries have evolved and become more sophisticated, there still remains a common weakness: the reliance on humans to be effective. The Great Wall of China is an example of an impressive accomplishment on a massive scale. Several walls were built beginning in the 7th century and were later reinforced and joined to create The Great Wall that spans the length of more than 13,000 miles. Similar to many modern corporations of today, it is comprised of several systems bound and connected together over time. However, because humans are enterprising and creative and, well human, one of the ways to penetrate this defense is to bribe someone to open the door.

In today's world, if you're thinking you can build a modern-day "moat" to keep the bad guys out, consider the 2014 U.S. State of Cybercrime Survey found that almost one-third of respondents said insider crimes are more costly or damaging than incidents perpetrated by outsiders.

To further support this, an April 2015 report from the data security company Vormetric found that 92 percent of information technology (IT) decision makers working in health care think their organization is vulnerable to insider threats. Some 62 percent highlighted privileged users as the most dangerous type of insider.

In a virtual ecosystem that increasingly includes Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and the Internet of Things (IoT), traditional firewalls do not ensure protection, and even well-meaning employees can bring down an organization as the lines between physical security and cybersecurity become increasingly blurred.

Click the DOWNLOAD link to download the full article published in the Winter 2016 issue of the People + Strategy journal.