Like Football, Your Cybersecurity Defense Needs a Strong Offense

“The best defense is a good offense.”

History credits Revolutionary War hero George Washington with being among the first to vocalize this concept, later famously echoed by heavyweight boxing champ Jack Dempsey and football god Vince Lombardi.

And it’s easy to see what they mean. The idea is that being proactive — going on the offense instead of focusing solely on defense — will frustrate the opposition’s ability to attack and yield insights that provide a strategic advantage.

So it’s not surprising to learn that this time-honored principle common to armed conflict, hand-to-hand combat and professional sports is also essential to the high-stakes world of cybersecurity. And when I say “high stakes,” I am referring to predictions that the global cost of cybercrime could reach as high as $6 trillion by 2021.

So Which Is More Important: Offensive or Defensive Cybersecurity?

Ha, it’s a trick question! If you answered “both,” congratulations — you are correct. Though the cybersecurity landscape is populated by black-hat hackers (the bad guys) and white-hat hackers (the good guys), the issue itself is by no means black and white.

In fact, any analysis of the “offensive cybersecurity vs. defensive cybersecurity” question reveals that both approaches are necessary in the trillion-dollar war on cybercrime and ongoing military efforts to keep citizens and governments safe from high-tech cyber warfare.

Today, it’s essential to not only build the strongest possible defenses but also to deploy creative strategies to gain information on your attackers and how they are trying to breach your networks and penetrate your systems.

This idea that “the best defense is a good offense” is not just a slogan representing the conventional wisdom of the cybersecurity intelligentsia. It’s also the title of a report on the future of cybersecurity by the global defense, management and (Read more...)