Elevating Cybersecurity in a Digitally Transformed World

Cybersecurity and digital transformation are no longer goals. They are the cost of doing business today.

While a recent blog discussed some challenges of how your business can operate in a digitally transformed world, embedding cybersecurity in every choice tops the list. This translates to making transformation choices designed for business fit, scalability, and security across the organization.

Let’s start by narrowing down the list of technology approaches shaping our digitally transformed world across major sectors like retail, healthcare, BFIS, manufacturing, and beyond.

1. Automation
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) Generative AI
3. Data & Analytics
4. IoT
5. Cloud native applications
6. Cybersecurity

If I were to ask you as a C-suite, business, or IT leader which of them was most important, what would be your answer?

Most likely none of the above because these are technological proxies to enable:

• Simplifying workflows and manual processes
• Harnessing data to shape business outcomes
• Improving customer-centric experiences
• Innovation and new lines of business

Cybersecurity transcends any list because it’s vital to achieving these goals across the business, cloud, and beyond the network edge by holistically applying cybersecurity to:

• Data architecture
• Operational Technology (OT) and IT environments
• Talent/upskilling strategy
• Operating model

Let’s talk about how we make that happen.

Cybersecurity's Critical Role in Safeguarding Digital Transformation

All aspects of the digitally transformed world and cybersecurity are two sides of the same coin.

You only need to look at the connection between the first five of our chosen digital transformation paths, where AI/ML:

• Is about automation and orchestration
• Relies on the ingestion of data to create new data
• Enables analytics through that data
• Drives IT and OT efficiencies and product innovation by simplifying workflows and processes
• Improves customer experience

These paths represent interconnected and complex data flows between people and systems relying on AI and automation to:

• Support business outcome-focused data analysis
• Ensure sensitive data protection and vetting at higher and faster rates while keeping humans in control via safeguards.

Most processes are far too complex and varied to address in this blog, but I can show how cybersecurity fits into your digitally transformed business world.

The first broad stroke is to embed security into the design of all digital technologies, systems, and applications to combat changing cybersecurity threats.

Emerging Cybersecurity Threats & Protective Strategies

It’s clear that Generative AI, AI, ML, and automation use across mobile, applications, and the cloud are integral to digital transformation and cybersecurity across every sector. What remains hidden across thousands of digital transformation and security articles is how they can simultaneously further the goals of business and bad actors.

One example is how automation, AI/ML, and Generative AI

• Support improved analytics and workflows via applications, RPA, and cloud for businesses

• Are also used by bad actors to improve cyberattack methods from malware and ransomware to phishing and brute force attacks.

• Help prevent these attacks by searching for threats, misconfigurations, and vulnerabilities in endpoints, IoT, cloud environments, containers, networks, web, domain, and email traffic.

We’ve discussed the boon of low code/no code and large language models (LLM) on automation and RPA specifically here and here. Generative AI tools backed by LLM are speeding up application development. According to a survey from technical hiring platform provider CoderPad, 67% of 13,000 polled developers are using AI for their job, with most using ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, or Bard.

Without security built into the design process, the use of these tools could easily introduce cybersecurity flaws into the design. AI/ML, Generative AI, and automation can also support more accurate ways to find and eliminate those code and application flaws and vulnerabilities.

You’re likely using Generative AI and automation along with cloud and edge computing. While FinOps adoption is driving cloud cost optimization, edge computing is now a major force across every sector. The worldwide edge computing market is predicted to reach $317 billion by 2026, according to Statista.

Most of you are using these tools to create applications or to gather, route, store, and process data from IoT devices and platforms.

Things are moving quick, which requires faster and easier ways for non-developers and citizen developers to step up and fill the skills gap, which we discussed here.

Countless tools and processes that are integral to digital transformation—like Identity and Access Management (IAM)—can be strengthened with AI/ML/automation tools. These can be RPA applications designed as part of a zero-trust architecture. This ensures continuous verification and the principle of "never trust, always verify" to secure sensitive data and resources.

Other emerging cybersecurity tools and platforms that are increasingly part of digital transformation strategies are:

• Automated threat hunting and threat intelligence platforms
• AI-powered penetration testing and vulnerability assessmenttools

Their aim is continuous monitoring for signs of compromise and flaws in existing systems and applications. They also streamline processes and data throughput to take human error out of the equation.

Integrating Existing Digital Infrastructures with Emerging Cybersecurity Measures for Enhanced Resilience

You hear a lot about how it’s ideal to implement a multilayered security framework to your organization for robust cybersecurity. This concept focuses on implementing defensive components inside and beyond the network and OT/IT infrastructure. The goal is having them all work together to protect each specific area and the entire organization from threats.

Tools representing this concept are constantly changing to keep up with the digitally transformed world. This leaves most businesses struggling with tool choices and integration into infrastructure transitioning between legacy and digital transformation.

This requires a digital transformation strategy based on the areas across the business IT and OT infrastructure that deliver the highest ROI in terms of:

• Simplifying workflows and manual processes
• Harnessing data to shape business outcomes
• Improving customer-centric experiences

Knowing how to integrate cybersecurity into this strategy makes things more complicated without a roadmap.

Fortunately, NIST recently released the Cybersecurity Framework 2.0. It gives you a basic guide for cybersecurity that guards against evolving threats by integrating the latest tools and technologies. This is only an initial step in your ongoing process since each organization and business sector faces a mix of similar and divergent needs.

The goal is to create a digital transformation strategy that grows and changes.

You do this by looking at your organization and sector along with your people, processes, and technology through a changing cybersecurity threat landscape lens. Five big-picture aspects of creating a detailed framework include:

1. Define the goals across the organization to match digital transformation paths and tools to the desired outcomes and KPIs
2. Assess the current state and desired end state of security based on those specific objectives to identify any gaps
3. Establish Generative AI, broader AI/ML, and automation governance security strategies (They should holistically integrate with digital transformation using clear accountability, responsibility, and risk management strategies)
4. Develop and optimize your cybersecurity workforce through both upskilling and integrated consulting
5. Define the tools and change management processes to integrate automated security processes with existing and digital transformation strategy tools, processes, technologies, and workflows

Step #5 is critical to success, which is why cybersecurity and awareness are so important.

Importance of Cybersecurity Awareness & Training in Preventing Breaches

Cybersecurity technology and tools are just the framework that facilitate the safety and security of your organization in a digitally transformed world.

Your people and culture are the foundation of successful and lasting innovation that keeps your organization safe and competitive, which is why cyber awareness and training are vital to:

• Equip your team with the knowledge to identify and avoid potential threats
• Turning your workforce from potential liabilities into security guardians
• Dramatically reduce the likelihood of security breaches and resulting financial and reputation damage
• Ensure every member of the workforce does their part to follow good cybersecurity hygiene as laid out in this TechTarget Article.¹
• Reinforce data protection laws and regulatory compliance through awareness and protocols for remaining compliant

This lays the groundwork for the future of your organization where cybersecurity and the digitally transformed world are constantly changing.

The Future Cybersecurity & Digital Defense Landscape

We’ve only seen the beginning of the changes the technology areas we’ve focused on here will have on digital transformation and cybersecurity. But if Generative AI, automation, and LLMs are any sign, it will be hard to keep up. This is why the multilayered security approach is changing from separate but integrated tools to a single platform capable of true integration, evolution, and scalability.

Most CIOs polled (75%) plan to integrate cybersecurity directly into systems and processes by 2027, according to IDC’s CIO agenda 2024 Predictions.

This reflects one of many changes to the security and digital transformation landscape of the future, which includes things like:

• Context-based access control with AI-driven passwordless authentication platforms (They leverage behavioral data to interpret suspicious activities

• Endpoint detection and response (EDR), which monitors on a device level

• Extended detection and response (XDR) look at broader connected systems and constantly adds new capabilities using AI/ML.

More organizations will implement these platforms as part of a broader cybersecurity strategy that can change and grow with digital transformation that includes the cloud and edge.

If we’ve learned anything in the last five years, its change is the only constant.

How we define, pursue, and achieve cybersecurity in tomorrow’s digitally transformed world will differ from today. We can keep pace with those changes by seeing them as part of a single, holistic, living cybersecurity and digital transformation strategy. This will help us embrace and integrate the needs and solutions that tomorrow will bring.

If you're inspired by the potential of digital transformation, I invite you to connect with me on LinkedIn.

For a more comprehensive dialogue, feel free to get in touch with me here. Whether it's inquiries, deeper dives, or collaborative ideas, I'm eager to engage. Let's pioneer the next wave of technological innovation and reliability together. Looking forward to our connection!