Cybercrime, and the prevention of it, is a defining issue in the digital era. A report from earlier in the year estimated that in 2017 the world lost $600 billion thanks to cyber-related crime, including data breaches and hacks. It’s not hard to see why Gartner predicts that worldwide security spending will top $124 billion in 2019, yet it does also raise the question that if the cost of the problem is five times the cost of the prevention, will we see anything dramatically different in the years to come? Are we simply throwing good money after bad?
It’s a simple question with a complicated answer. There’s a danger that with so much money earmarked for security, enterprises will try to cover all bases with as many different approaches as possible. Yet as Pat Gelsinger, VMware’s CEO, pointed out recently, complexity is in fact more likely to create opportunities for breaches and security incidents, not less. That same article references a report that states that the average enterprise deploys 75 different security products, while Gelsinger relayed a conversation he had with the CIO of a bank that used 250 security vendors.
Simply layering up won’t work – the more applications, patches, integrations, the more gaps. It’s a bit like medieval armour – chain mail, made up of small metal rings linked together, worked for a time, but was then superseded by plate armour. At first this was quite cumbersome, but as technology and knowledge improved, so did the solution, until soldiers wearing plate armour had a freedom of movement combined with superior protection.
It’s the same challenge that faces enterprises today. They need to be completely secure, but still able to make full use of the agility and flexibility of digital technologies. Completely locking everything down might provide better protection, but it won’t be worth the cost of lost business opportunities.
That’s why, at VMware, we are embedding security deeper into our products and services. Take VMware NSX – it sits at the heart of our virtual infrastructure offer and has been built from the ground up to be completely secure. Having a reliable, secure foundation is critical. NSX is designed to work with some of our most trusted partners’ own security offerings, thereby reducing the possibility of gaps forming.
One of those partners is Intel, a company that we’ve been working with since the dawn of virtualization. We’ve evolved our offering together, and today within our Virtual Cloud Network we are able to use NSX on Intel architecture giving our customers the opportunity to deploy virtualized infrastructures that meets their requirements for efficiency, scalability and agility, with peace of mind that they are protected from the latest cyber threats.
Our work together, NSX with Intel technology is just the latest in a long line of collaborations which are prime examples of the power of partnership. It’s a strategic alliance which has time and time again been at the forefront of IT innovation.
Now, as customers look for help to combat the rising tide of cybercrime, we are in a position, with Intel, to offer security intrinsic to infrastructure, simplifying the issue rather than complicating it. Today’s challenges may be evolving into new and terrifying threats every day, but the roots of a viable solution stretch back almost twenty years.
