RSA President Outlines Steps to Bolster Cyber Defense in Asia and Beyond

SINGAPORE, July 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Recognizing SE Asia's rapid mobile and cloud technology growth and the security challenge it represents, RSA President Yoran calls for region's organizations to re-think their approach to cyber defense
• Yoran outlines five key principles of a next generation approach to security based on faster detection and more effective response
• Keynote address reaches largest audience yet at RSA Conference Asia Pacific & Japan in Singapore

RSA CONFERENCE ASIA PACIFIC & JAPAN

Amit Yoran, president of RSA, The Security Division of EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), today issued a call for SE Asian companies and governments to re-think their traditional approaches to cyber defense as they increasingly turn to mobile and cloud technologies to store and access data and systems.  Yoran addressed his comments to government and private industry cybersecurity experts in Singapore at the RSA Conference Asia Pacific & Japan.  In his speech, Yoran discussed how the rapid growth of mobile and cloud technologies in Asia represent a boon to the organizations and industries of the region but also a significant threat to their legacy security operations.  As mobile and cloud technologies decentralize organizations' digital environments, the perimeter on which traditional cyber defenses are based is disappearing.

Despite the disappearing perimeter, Asian businesses and businesses around the world continue to rely primarily on perimeter protection technologies like firewalls, anti-virus, and intrusion detection systems to prevent breaches, only to see those tools invariably fail under the onslaught of today's advanced attacks, Yoran said.  Compounding that failure is the current practice of relying on SIEM and other signature-based tools that require historical experience to detect advanced threats, which oftentimes have no precedent.  This combination of antiquated technologies and misguided practices is the root of the vast majority of today's security failings.

Yoran asked the audience to re-think their approach to security, using the dramatic digital evolution of Singapore Post and the region's other postal services as an example of the level of change required in cybersecurity.  The top executive at RSA went on to outline a new approach to security focused on faster detection of and more effective response to cyber threats in a series of five principles:

1. Acceptance that even advanced protections are insufficient for today's threats - "No matter how high or smart the walls, focused adversaries will find ways over, under, around, and through."
   
   
2. Deep, pervasive visibility from the endpoint to the network to the cloud is necessary – "The single most common and catastrophic mistake made by security teams today is under-scoping an incident and rushing to clean up compromised systems before understanding the broader campaign."
   
   
3. Effective management of identities matters more than ever - "In a world with no perimeter and with fewer security anchor points, identity and authentication matter more than ever . . . At some point in every successful attack campaign, the abuse of identity is a stepping stone the attackers use to impose their will."
   
   
4. Organizations must leverage external threat intelligence - "[Threat intelligence] should be machine-readable and automated for increased speed and leverage.  It should be operationalized into your security program and tailored to our organization's assets and interests so that analysts can quickly address the threats that pose the greatest risk."
   
   
5. Security programs must be guided by an understanding of risk - "You must understand what matters to your business and what is mission critical.  You have to . . . defend what's important and defend it with everything you have."

Yoran concluded by reminding the audience that the technologies already exist for companies to move to a more effective approach to security focused on faster detection and response to security threats.  What is lacking is the will.  "This is not a technology problem. This is a mindset problem," Yoran said.

Additional Resources

• Download Amit Yoran's RSA Conference Asia Pacific & Japan keynote transcript
• Watch Amit Yoran's keynote address.
• Find keynotes videos, schedules, events and sessions at RSA Conference Asia Pacific & Japan
• Connect with RSA via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and the RSA Speaking of Security Blog and Podcast.

About RSA

RSA's Intelligence Driven Security solutions help organizations reduce the risks of operating in a digital world.  Through visibility, analysis, and action, RSA solutions give customers the ability to detect, investigate and respond to advanced threats; confirm and manage identities; and ultimately, help prevent IP theft, fraud and cybercrime.  For more information on RSA, please visit www.rsa.com.

RSA and EMC are either registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined under the Federal Securities Laws.  Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (ii) delays or reductions in information technology spending; (iii) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines and the volume and mixture of product and services revenues; (iv) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures and new product introductions; (v) component and product quality and availability; (vi) fluctuations in VMware, Inc.'s operating results and risks associated with trading of VMware stock; (vii) the transition to new products, the uncertainty of customer acceptance of new product offerings and rapid technological and market change; (viii) risks associated with managing the growth of our business, including risks associated with acquisitions and investments and the challenges and costs of integration, restructuring and achieving anticipated synergies; (ix) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (x) insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; (xi) fluctuating currency exchange rates; (xii) threats and other disruptions to our secure data centers or networks; (xiii) our ability to protect our proprietary technology; (xiv) war or acts of terrorism; and (xv) other one-time events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in the filings of EMC Corporation, the parent company of RSA, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  EMC and RSA disclaim any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.

SOURCE RSA

Related Links

http://www.rsa.com