Before, During and After: How to Think About Complex Threats

I’m often asked how to deal with the security threat landscape within the context of running a business. The security threat landscape can seem like a highly complex challenge, yet as I’ve looked at it through my work with Cisco and the broader industry, it can actually be boiled down into three simple phases: before, during and after attack.

It sounds simple in theory, but in practice the conversation often focuses predominantly on the “before” phase; that is, minimizing a hacker’s chances of success. While this is clearly the most important phase, it’s also crucial to have a clear threat containment strategy for “during” an attack, and a visibility and forensics plan for “after” it as well. It seems complex, but it can be surprisingly simple. Take a look at a recent video blog I did on the topic.