Symantec: IT Integration Needs To Be Tackled To Ensure Robust Cyber Security

System and software integration is a hurdle IT teams and organisations need to get over if they are to bolster their security against modern cyber threats. 

In an interview on the Silicon stand at Infosecurity 2017,  Darren Thomson, EMEA chief technology officer at Symantec, told us that many organisations now have too many disparate and un-integrated security systems that stand in the way of robust cyber security. 

Integration enigma 

“A conversation I’m having with CISO {chief information security officers] is ironically the very tools I’ve been purchasing to protect my organisation are now are one of my biggest risks,” said Thomson. 

He noted that many cyber security tools are performing admirably but are simply unable to speak to each other or share data across an organisation to make life easier for security analysts to indemnify, analyse and protect against existing and emerging threats. 

As such, Thompson sees a cyber security future of systems that have an almost one-size-fits-all approach ti securing an enterprise, thus avoiding the problem of many un-integrated systems stuck in software silos. 

“We’re definitely seeing a trend towards fewer tools, fewer agents, and much more comprehensive approaches to threat protection in particular; moving as much as possible to one console,” he explained. 

“We’re seeing a lot of indications at Symantec that when you put this technology and this technology together, one plus one equals more than two, actually wonderful things start to happen.” 

Thompson had plenty more to say about the security industry from Symantec’s point of view, so take a look at the video above which has the full interview. 

There was plenty more going on at Infosecurity 2017, including the risks the Internet of Things (IoT)  poses to the manufacturing world,  and a talk from Lord Sebastian Coe on the cyber threats the world of sport faces. 

Quiz: What do you know about cyber security in 2017?