Connected

 

Protect the Valuable and the Fragile 

“The left tackle’s job is to protect the quarterback from what he can’t see coming –

To protect his blind side.”

~From Blindside ~

We often talk about a defense in depth position for security; but what about an offense in depth position?  We need to go on the offensive!  We need to take an offensive IT security strategy today.

Have you seen the film Blind Side?  It is a movie about Michael Oher, whose personal story is remarkable; he is an offensive tackle with the Baltimore Ravens. 

The film opens with a clip of the November 18, 1985, Monday Night Football game between the New York Giants and the Washington Red Skins which changed the game forever with “the hit that no one who saw it can ever forget it.” 

In a now infamous play, Lawrence Taylor, who played for the New York Giants as a linebacker, tackled Joe Thiesmann, the quarterback for the Redskins.  Thiesmann’s leg was broken in multiple places and thus his career, as a professional football player, came to end.  As the movie states, football would never be the same, after that play.  The left tackle position became, in most cases, the second highest paid position on the team, after the quarterback.  The idea behind the offensive strategy change was to protect the quarterback’s blind side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oftc7pCVarI

We have our very own blind side in today’s IT environment.  The quarterback that needs protecting is called the database.  Did you know that 75% of data breaches are from compromised records that exist on database servers? 

It only took one unrecoverable tackle to end Theismann’s career; and it only requires one data breach to bring down a successful business.  The loss of valuable information can end a career and bring a flourishing company to ruin.  What would happen to the Colonel, if his competitors, got a hold of his secret recipe of eleven herbs and spices?  Harland Sanders knew the value of his company data.  The single sheet of paper, written in pencil, and signed by the Colonel himself, which contains his secret recipe, is housed inside a computerized vault, guarded by motion sensors and cameras, which only two company executives have access to at any given time.   

Data must be secured; it is the foundation on which business is built.  Protecting company data is similar to protecting the quarterback for a team. They both hold strategies in which to win the game. 

We need to have a shift in our security strategy to include offense and not just defense.  We know that a defense in depth position is about layered security products, throughout the IT infrastructure.  It is now time to take that same position and apply it to an offensive strategy.  The traditional defense in depth strategy does not protect the databases sufficiently.  When we talk about a defense in depth position, we usually are referring to such things as firewalls, intrusion prevention devices, and AV.  Data is the crown jewels of any enterprise; our goal is to stay safely connected by protecting information from being stolen and compromised, which will thus set us up for a win. 

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