The convergence of security and observability: A game changer for businesses – Times of India

— Jyoti Prakash, Regional Sales Director – India & Saarc Countries, Splunk, India
The pandemic hit a fast forward on India’s digital transformation as The IT and business services market reported a 7.2% record pace of growth in 2021. The changing technologies and rapid hybrid cloud deployments, means IT personnel in India, and around the globe, are dealing with challenges like data flooding, cyber threats, distributed infrastructure, and hybrid workforces.
In this complex and unpredictable business environment, enterprise resilience has emerged as a key concern for organisations and a growing number of them are moving to the cloud to achieve this. However, for many companies, moving all their data is not as straightforward as constraints related to cloud security, device storage and management, disaster recovery, and compliance are all part of the deal when moving to the cloud. To overcome this myriad of challenges and unlock the true potential of the cloud, an integrated approach that brings together security and observability into one holistic platform will help improve the technical focus of ITOps, DevOps and cybersecurity personnel- moving away from defending and troubleshooting to driving innovation.
Cyber Resilience a Key Priority
India has witnessed a rapid growth in digital technologies but is also especially vulnerable to cyberthreats, and ranks among the top three most targeted countries in Asia. In Q1 2022, India experienced 18 million cyber attacks and threats, an average of nearly 200,000 threats per day. This period saw over 60,000 phishing attempts and over 30,000 tech support scams.
According to the latest State of Security Report 65% of businesses globally reported an increase in attempted cyberattacks, data breaches and costly ransomware attacks. The report also states that Indian organisations face similar security challenges with 70% of respondents reporting a significant increase in attempted attacks. In order to tackle this challenge,, business leaders in India are leading the way in adopting security controls with machine learning capabilities with 72% of Indian respondents reporting extensive adoption versus just 28% globally.
Vulnerabilities in the company infrastructure compromise both its financial situation and endangers business and customer data and growth prospects. Therefore, vulnerability management and cyber resilience have emerged as a key concern for companies globally and investment in cybersecurity is table stakes.
Power of an Integrated Approach
The sheer complexity of a multi cloud environment makes vulnerability management a challenge. Data storage capability apart, the platform used must enable organisations to ingest, view and analyse large data quickly to enable cross-functions such as ITOps, DevOps, and cybersecurity personnel to address risk management in a holistic and efficient way. While selecting a platform that allows true integration, every business should keep into consideration its unified, flexible, scalable, pervasive and open capabilities.
The complexity of multi-cloud environments and the growing attack surface have rendered traditional approaches to operational resilience and risk management obsolete. The convergence of observability and security allows organisations to assess their vulnerabilities, efficiently protect and defend systems, and improve risk management and incident response. The latest innovations in observability and security platforms are enabling organisations to manage infrastructural complexity and turn data insights into strategic business decisions. An integrated approach is a true game changer for businesses as it gives organisations the freedom to innovate without constantly being reactive, enable intelligent capabilities and automation, and improve team collaboration.