Why Information Security matters
In the last 20–25 years, information technology has flourished, as offices, businesses, industries and even households, have become significantly automated. In addition, online connectivity has converted the world into a global village. Now, as the world moves into the era of the Internet of Things, it has become nearly impossible to operate in society without online connectivity. Even the sensitive government and military organizations are having trouble staying isolated.
While the increased reliance on IT and connectivity often makes life convenient, with increased connectivity has come issues of increased threats to confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. Automated systems with security loopholes can now cause greater disasters than were possible from the insecure, isolated, manual systems of the past. For example losing an office laptop while traveling is significantly more problematic than losing a briefcase containing office documents. With lost documents, the loss stops with the documents; with a lost laptop, the potential impact affects every system to which that laptop could connect.
The gap between bigger threats and limited staff
While many organizations, particularly government and military agencies, now recognize the need for information security, there are not enough information security professionals around the globe to meet current and anticipated requirements. As a result, some organizations must rely on inexperienced and unqualified information security staff, or they may have to outsource their information security matters.