Staying safe in cyberspace extends beyond your own four walls – the defences of your partners and suppliers must also be strong
As uncomfortable as it tends to make most IT-minded people feel, security has been the tech world’s hottest topic for some time now. Whether it’s bring your own device (BYOD), the cloud or even just e-commerce, every area of technology seems to be dogged by a looming fear of hackers – even when it’s not completely warranted.
With high-profile breaches happening so often, it’s no surprise that many businesses have brushed up on their own security knowledge and erected digital defence walls around themselves. Even if the threat level isn’t particularly high, this is certainly the best approach to take – better safe than sorry, after all.
As the rise of dedicated service providers continues, outsourcing is becoming a bigger part of the way businesses operate. Organisations are putting more and more of their faith in others in exchange for cost-effectiveness and convenience. What these organisations need to remember, is that their own security measures and knowledge doesn’t extend beyond their own office walls – their partners (cloud providers, for example) will be taking a different approach. This approach could, of course, be even more robust and effective, but it could also be worse.
This is in no way an argument against working with other companies – after all, they should know their fields better than anyone and this will help to ensure you make the most of the technologies in question – but it does highlight the importance of understanding the ways in which they plan to keep your data safe from the countless threats. Make sure everything matches your own high standards. If you feel like your service provider is doing a better job, take the chance to learn from it.
