News

The people and business side of cybersecurity

August 19, 2022 | In SMX Blog |

Themes from the 2022 NZ Cyber Security Summit

As proud gold sponsors of the 2022 NZ Cyber Security Summit, we thought we’d take a closer look at themes covered over the two days, including the human aspects and how cybersecurity should accelerate, not limit innovation and performance.

People and cybercrime – causes, impacts, solutions

A strong theme in this year’s summit considered the human aspects of cybersecurity.
The summit’s keynote speech, centred on that, was presented by Tamāra Al-Salim, Co-chair at Digital Identity NZ and NZ Country Manager at Women in Identity. Customers are demanding more from companies on using and storing personal data while valuing easier access to digital services. It raises the stakes for organisations that need to invest in infrastructure to enable this while also building it around transparency, accountability and ethical data storage principles.
A panel discussion on the role of people rather than technology presented the solution’s other side. The panel explored how we can increase the technical resilience of New Zealand as a whole, build digital savviness into our work cultures and address the skills shortage in our cybersecurity workforce.

Cybersecurity as a core part of business innovation and performance

Delegates heard presenters on cybersecurity’s role in innovation – how security strategies can increase, rather than hinder, business agility and resilience. From our perspective, this approach could require a mindset shift for many cybersecurity specialists to let them push toward the seemingly competing priorities of agility and security. One speaker proposed that a cybersecurity mesh platform (CSMA) could be one answer to this issue, with another suggesting that employee productivity vs. security is a debate that has already been resolved. The reality of modern business is that productivity and better customer outcomes are existential requirements – and security needs to work to enable them. This is especially important as we further embed the trends of working with unsecured home WiFi networks, using personal devices to access company networks and adopting MultiCLOUD/SAAS, remote access and DevOps environments.

DMARC the best way forward

With 96% of cyberattacks coming through phishing email, DMARC is one of the few ways companies can achieve a quick win in supporting people and innovation.
When you implement DMARC, you prevent forgery of your domain, protecting your employees, customers and supply chain partners from BEC attacks – and, therefore, 96% of cyberattacks – without limiting innovation or efficiency. It’s why the latest NZISM release has changed from a strong suggestion to a command: DMARC MUST be deployed on all domains.
But, to properly implement and maintain DMARC, you’ll need speciality expertise and a reporting platform – both of which are included in our DMARC wraparound service, DPS (Domain Protection Services). You get a reporting and configuration portal with AI-powered recommendations, a proven implementation plan and support along the way.

Cybersecurity as an enabler

This year’s summit focused not just on tech but also on what it enables – people and business. With issues such as building skill and savviness in the New Zealand public, adding to the cybersecurity workforce or ensuring systems support innovation and performance, this is a goal we can get behind – and we think DMARC should be at the top of every business security to-do list. After all, what’s the point of cybersecurity if not to help people and businesses achieve more?

2022 NZ Cyber Security Summit, Connecting Policy, People and Practice, ran from 25–26 July 2022, Te Papa, Wellington (Live or Virtual).