Faster cars need better brakes
Feb 17th, 2022 by Jesper Kråkhede
A question I hear more and more from management: Why does security cost so much more today than ten years ago?
Let me answer with a car. Twenty years ago a normal family car didn´t go very fast, and the safety equipment was seat belts and maybe an airbag. Today the same family car goes a lot faster, and it comes with ABS, stability control, a dozen airbags, lane assist and automatic braking. Nobody thinks that is strange. When you drive faster, you need more safety equipment.
IT is the same. Ten years ago most companies had their systems in their own datacenter, used by employees in the office, on company computers. Today the business runs in the cloud, people work from anywhere, partners and customers are connected directly into our systems and everything is expected to work around the clock. We are driving a lot faster.
So yes, security costs more. We have more to protect, in more places, against attackers who have become professional and well funded. And the cost of a crash is much higher, because the business stops completely when IT stops.
The good news is that, just like in the car, much of the safety is now built in. Many security functions come with the platforms we already pay for. The job is to turn them on and use them.
You wouldn´t drive at 200 km/h without brakes. Don´t run your business that way either.