Intelligent CISO Issue 19 | Page 18

cyber trends “WE NEED TO BE RIGHT ALL THE TIME, WHEREAS A HACKER ONLY NEEDS TO BE RIGHT ONCE,” SAYS NEETI RODRIGUES, REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF ENTERPRISE SECURITY, MICRO FOCUS, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA. INTELLIGENT CISO SAT DOWN WITH RODRIGUES TO DISCUSS MICRO FOCUS’ FUNDAMENTAL PHILOSOPHIES THAT KEEP THEIR CUSTOMERS SAFE IN THE EVER-CHANGING WORLD OF INTERNET SECURITY. Staying one step ahead in cybersecurity W When it comes to Digital Transformation, is the MENA region unique in terms of the adoption of new technology? I have been in the industry for 20 years. Traditionally if I were to be asked this question, I would have said that MENA is at least three years behind the UK, but recently this has changed. Now, the region is perhaps a little bit behind, but we are almost in line with what the rest of the world is doing. One thing that is a bit different is that regulations such as GDPR are not as stringent here, which impacts the adoption of security solutions. I think what makes Digital Transformation complex is that we used to view it as a change from the old to the new. Now customers are beginning to understand that there is no quick switch over. You have to work with the systems that have been working for so many years and create modern systems that build on top of and complement the old systems. 18 Rather than going around legacy systems, we leverage the old systems in our transition to the new systems. You have to find a balance that can allow you to transition smoothly. How does the implementation of emerging technology like AI/ Machine Learning affect the threat landscape? AI and Machine Learning can actually give a company a clearer vision of what is happening on the threat surface. It would be misleading of me to tell anyone that you can ever be 100% secure, or even that you can look to achieve 100% security in the future – that is just not possible. However, AI-powered security solutions can help you get visibility into what might be threatening your system that you didn’t know was happening until now. With that kind of visibility, you can assess your risk and make decisions based on a clearer view of what is happening. However, the fact of the matter is that as a security vendor, we have to be right all Issue 19 | www.intelligentciso.com