Being Vendor Neutral
What it means for Cyber Security.
- Executive: Didn't we just spend £millions upgrading IaaS, PaaS and SaaS?
- You: Well, the vendor needs us to spend a little more to access the full security features and controls that we need.
This scenario is typical of most businesses, and demonstrates that you're only as secure as the products you use, and in some cases the products have become the weakest link in your business. We knew this already, yet somehow, we still manage to fail the external audit or experience the consequences of having mute-security controls that were meant to work 'straight out of the box'.
Being vendor neutral gives you a considered ability for broad compatibility, interoperability and changeability of products and technologies. Your technology selection should complement your proprietary designs with unbiased business practices. It's not always about following others in the market-place on which vendor solutions are used in each industry, but instead, what considerations are involved in your vendor selection process? Will it increase the internal capabilities of your team? will the solution allow you to have better governance or engage the diverse technologies of other economies? at what cost?
Vendor neutrality by design is not new but becoming a rediscovered design principal within cyber security especially as we become challenged to consider other influences within the vendor digital transaction and ecosystem such as privacy or data integrity. Your vendor selection should not limit your core business or have a need to up your resources skillset for the solution to work - you've paid a premium, the security controls within should 'just work' - and indeed some vendors today are giving value straight of out the box as they know your business definition of holistic-layered-defence is better complemented by their solution without any vendor lock-in mechanisms.
Of course, there are times when you must take the vendors lead, but if you can't explain why it helps with risk mitigation or operational success then you're already within the vendor lock-in zone and need to consider your vendor exit strategy.
It doesn't just mean to find the first open-source or open-systems provider in your industry, you have to consider how you are empowered by them to integrate platforms and systems through your business functions - you want to set trends, not follow them and for that you need qualified assistance where our products at SAIBER Ltd have already considered vendor neutrality by design and work alongside your business to ensure your cyber security posture progresses the right way.
#RUCyberReady
