Presentation Material
Abstract
The past few years have seen the threat landscape for Information Security evolve significantly. Information has become the most valuable asset for organizations even as it has become increasingly borderless and dispersed with cloud, mobility and virtualization now widely adopted across the globe. The challenge of securing this information continues to rise as adversaries become sophisticated and the cost of attacks rise. Blurring boundaries between consumer and business, recent attacks are demonstrating weaknesses in our ability to secure data, financial information and critical infrastructure.
Future trends such the Internet of Things and Software Defined Data Centers will bring new attack surfaces into play. Today’s keynote by Shantanu Ghosh, VP Data Center Security & MD of Symantec’s India Product Operations highlights the opportunities and risks inherent to the digital economy while underscoring the need for unified security. He will provide his thoughts on how to adequately defend information against today’s most advanced threats and confidently adopt new technologies and platforms of the future.
AI Generated Summary
The talk outlines a significant evolution in the cybersecurity threat landscape, driven by the proliferation of internet-connected “smart” devices and the professionalization of cyber adversaries. The attack surface has expanded beyond traditional computers to include embedded systems like smart televisions, baby monitors, and even smart trash cans, demonstrating that vulnerabilities exist in ubiquitous consumer and municipal IoT devices.
The nature of threat actors has shifted from individual hackers motivated by fame to highly organized, well-funded groups. These include nation-states conducting cyber warfare and espionage, politically motivated actors, and mercenary groups offering “hacking-as-a-service.” Their attacks are characterized as Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs): sophisticated, leveraging multiple zero-day vulnerabilities, and patient, with attackers persisting within a network for months to identify and exfiltrate high-value assets. Examples like the Stuxnet and Duqu malware illustrate the extreme sophistication and targeted, destructive potential of state-sponsored tools, capable of causing real-world physical damage to industrial control systems.
A structured, multi-stage attack lifecycle is described: extensive reconnaissance (including targeting supply chains and individuals), initial access (often via phishing), stealthy discovery and mapping of internal assets, capture of specific “crown jewels,” and careful exfiltration to avoid detection.
Key practical implications include the inadequacy of perimeter-only security. A layered defense model is necessary, with heightened focus on protecting data centers that house critical assets. Organizations face compounding challenges: an exponentially growing volume of digital information to protect, complex IT environments that slow patching, risks from insider threats (malicious or negligent), and increasing regulatory pressures mandating demonstrable security compliance. The core takeaway is that defenders must adopt strategies that match the adversaries’ organization, specialization, and resourcefulness, focusing on protecting data wherever it resides against a diverse and persistent set of threats.