As we approach the end of 2021, a year where cybersecurity has gone mainstream, we are taking a look at the resilience and industry leadership of our more than 30,000 customers. In our Global Security Insights Report 76% of the CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs surveyed said attack volumes had increased at their organizations – with the majority pointing to employees working from home as the cause – and 79% said attacks had become more sophisticated.
As security teams face targeted and increasingly sophisticated attacks, VMware is focused on delivering the innovation and partnership to help keep our customers safe from cyberattacks. From RSA Conference to raising our collective voices around women in security, here’s a look back at 2021 from the lens of our customers.
The Hard Truths About Cybersecurity
At RSA Conference 2021, Angela Weinman, VMware’s head of global governance, risk, and compliance, and Jimmy Sanders, head of information security at Netflix DVD, tackled the following three cybersecurity “hard truths” in a joint keynote address, and discussed how these truths can lead to more resilient security.
- The Security Risk Picture Is Out of Focus – Rather than focusing directly on a risk scenario and its impact, organizations should zoom out and think in terms of a spectrum of possible impacts.
- Legacy Security Practices Are Slowing Things Down – All security practices should be open to challenge and, if appropriate, be thrown aside. To scale and remain agile, organizations must constantly challenge the “how” of cybersecurity, as well as the “why.”
- Security Is Not a Solo Sport – No single group or organization can stem the tide of security threats. Put simply, we’re all in this together.
Honing in on the points above and the requirement for the entire industry to come together in order to better protect our organizations, Sanders said: “Witnessing the rise and fall of companies, products, and best business practices throughout my career has imprinted a deep belief within my psyche. That belief is that we, the collective we, must create an environment where the best ideas win. And what happens is this improves our security posture overall.”
Check out the keynote in its entirety here: 3 Hard Truths About Cybersecurity.
Making a Mark on the Industry
In celebration of Women’s History Month, VMware honored women in security who play an important role in leading, inspiring and innovating, including VMware customer Suzanne Hall, Global CISO at Circle K Stores. In a Q&A and video, Suzanne discussed her career learnings and passion for the industry, sharing: “The world of security continues to draw me in with its constant changes and unpredictability. Just when you think you have your arms around it with the right controls in place, something else changes forcing you to adapt. It’s certainly not a career for folks who like to put their feet up on their desk! I never envisioned security to be the industry it is today, but I’m happy to be in the midst of it. While it can be stress-inducing, there is never a dull moment. It’s also a rewarding role. I cannot think of another role I’ve held where I feel I’ve made such a positive impact.”
Accelerating the Journey to Zero Trust Security
Legacy security solutions are not built for the realities of today’s distributed digital enterprise. At VMworld 2021, VMware announced new innovations to empower customers with better security. With VMware’s comprehensive security portfolio, organizations can better secure multi-cloud environments, apps, and the anywhere workforce while modernizing their SOCs. Customers weighed in on how VMware Security is helping their organizations to better defend against cyberattacks.
DVB Bank SE, a financial services provider specializing in international transport finance, is using VMware technology to protect their organization from today’s growing threats. “DVB Bank SE looks to VMware as a trusted partner to help manage complex cybersecurity and compliance requirements while dealing with a changing workforce,” said Robert Seidemann, vice president of engineering & operating services, DVB Bank SE. “VMware helps us be more proactive in reducing our attack surface and simplifying security. Moving away from physical appliances and deploying the NSX Firewall allows us to segment distributed apps at the workload level seamlessly and at scale. VMware Carbon Black Cloud Workload enables us to apply security to individual applications at the hypervisor level.”
A subsidiary of ADX Labs, neurothink is a machine learning as a service platform that leverages the VMware Carbon Black Cloud platform for end-to-end defense. “At neurothink, security is of paramount importance,” said Brian Rogers, chief executive officer of neurothink. “As we built our platform, it was critical that we carefully chose the right line of defense. In our search for this end-to-end defense, it became clear to us that the VMware Carbon Black platform was the best security solution. VMware Carbon Black Cloud removes complexity associated with workload and container security, which has in turn allowed us to help our customers remove the complexity from machine learning.”
Axway is a pioneer in enterprise data integration that helps customers unlock new business opportunities. With VMware, Axway has access to real-time insights and visibility into the risks across cloud platforms. “CloudHealth Secure State is a real driver for collaboration between Axway’s disparate security, operations, DevOps and R&D teams,” said David Starler, director of cloud security, Axway. “CloudHealth Secure State delivers actionable intelligence about cloud risks to help each team meet its varying cloud security objectives. The service is unique in its ability to deliver additional context that’s often missing in cloud security.
VMware customers are making incredible things happen. Browse more stories from our security customers here.
