At the final day of the Cyber: Secured Forum in Dallas, moderators hosted a series of discussions in which attendees played a crucial part in putting forth solutions to some of the the most pressing cyber–physical topics facing the security industry.
Attendees were divided into four different groups to collaborate on responses to some of the biggest cyber–physical challenges, including:
- The Tenets of a Cybersecurity Hardening Guide
- Privacy in the Age of Connected Devices
- Show Me the Money: The Considerations for Monetizing Cybersecurity as an Integrator
- Gap Analysis – How the Security Industry Should Address Cybersecurity
In coming together to share their responses, attendees expressed their collective ideas. One of the key concerns for integrators is understanding how to monetize cybersecurity. In order to do this successfully, integrators need to acquire an array of skill sets that they might not have. For those that are looking to grow and be the experienced industry provider, they need to rely on the skills of others while they themselves grow and learn.
While it’s not all about the money, business is all about the money. Unfortunately, connectivity has opened up a Pandora’s box of opportunity and challenges for the physical security industry. Integrators are seeking to monetize cybersecurity services while ensuring new threats to their customers are mitigated in the systems they deploy.
In looking at privacy in the age of connected devices, attendees recognize that the lack of security in the internet of things poses not only digital but also physical privacy vulnerabilities. As such, solutions providers are working to ensure that their connected products are hardened out of the box and that the folks deploying them have the guidance to ensure that they provide customer value, not cybersecurity headaches.
The security industry needs to shift its siloed thinking order to really address cybersecurity. One overarching theme of the Cyber: Secured Forum was that the lines between physical and cybersecurity are slowing disappearing. The vulnerabilities are overlapping, the risks are expanding and the ability to mitigate risks is hampered by an ever-growing skills gap. Collaboration, now more than ever, is key.