Research Report Confirms Snowden’s Positive Effect on Industry 

More than half of information security professionals believe the Snowden revelations have had a positive effect on the industry, according to a report released today. The research report, titled ‘Information security: From business barrier to business enabler’, surveyed 1,149 information security professionals across the globe about the industry landscape and the challenges they face.

The research report, commissioned by Infosecurity Europe, highlights the increasing importance of information security to business strategy – from the effect of Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks and the impact of big data, to the demand for boardroom education and the need to develop a long-term strategy to combat evolving threats.
According to the report, information security is gradually being recognized as a business enabler.The results reveal that more effective collaboration between government and the information security industry is crucial to protecting organizations from future cyber threats, with 68% of the information security professionals surveyed believing that intelligence is not currently shared effectively between government and industry.

With only 5% of those surveyed selecting the government as their most trusted source for intelligence, it is apparent that more work needs to be done to strengthen government’s position as a source of information on potential threats.

“This is something that needs to be addressed urgently,” said Brian Honan, Founder & CEO, BH Consulting, a keynote speaker at Infosecurity Europe 2014. “Without better collaboration between industry and governments we are at a disadvantage against our adversaries. As threats and the capabilities of those looking to breach our systems evolve we need to jointly respond better in how we proactively deal with the threat.”

According to the Infosecurity Europe research report, data security is being pushed up the corporate agenda, likely catalyzed by the Snowden revelations. The NSA exposé has triggered action, with 58% believing the Snowden affair has been positive in making their business understand potential threats.

When asked whether the Snowden affair has increased the pressure applied by business to information security professionals to protect critical information, almost half (46%) of all respondents said that it has.

Data, Data & More Data

Thirty percent of information security professionals feel their organization isn’t able to make effective strategic decisions based on deluge of data they receive, and only 59% say they trust the data they receive. Considering the majority have witnessed this volume of data increase over the past 12 months, adopting a future-proof approach to information security is going to become increasingly important. A worrying 44% believe the industry has a short-termist approach to security strategy.
“The way information security is perceived is changing, and events such as the Edward Snowden affair have taught both government and industry several valuable lessons”, said David Cass, Senior Vice President & Chief Information Security Officer at Elsevier, and speaker at Infosecurity Europe 2014. “Threats to security and privacy occur from outside and inside organizations. The complexity of today's threat landscape is beyond the capability of any one company or country to successfully counter on their own. Experience shows there’s clearly more work to be done until businesses understand the importance of information security to long-term strategy. This challenge, combined with the groundswell of data, supports the need for immediate change. Part of this change requires better sharing of information between government and industry."