Bara döda fiskar följer strömmen (Eng. only dead fish follow the stream) is a Swedish proverb which, especially in these times, is proving increasingly accurate when talking about business, digitalization and cybersecurity.
Digitalization provides opportunities like never before to be a live fish, finding streams of their own to follow, or even to make their own streams. The cybersecurity stream is a tributary to the digitalization stream – without cybersecurity, the digitalization stream will dry up.
This stream of ours, the cybersecurity market in Sweden, is a big one: 8.8 billion Swedish krona (900 million Euros) in 2017. And there are plenty of us working this stream, ranging from global players to local niche players.
What it seems like, though, is that many of those working the 8.8 billion stream are doing it in conventional ways: responding to the technology oriented customer requests and specifications. Inherently there is nothing wrong with this, giving the customers what they want.
But is it what they need?
In Sweden, it seems that the main cybersecurity streams are: continuous enhancing of in-house capabilities; and looking at cybersecurity from a technological point of view only. While these are approaches that have worked quite well in the past, the sheer vastness of digitalization is rapidly making them obsolete.
Who has the resources to continuously maintain, not to speak improve, in-house capabilities in the rapidly changing cybersecurity environment?Adding on top of this the shortening life span of technological cybersecurity products. And, also importantly: is such an organization a place where top cybersecurity experts will want to work?
A lot of Swedish companies, small and large, still want to do things on their own, building up Security Operations Centers or Incident Response Teams. Basically a sound idea, but in a rapidly changing and digitalizing world, this is often a heavy and costly approach.
Luckily, one does not have to go it alone in cybersecurity; there are numerous possibilities to build up a cybersecurity whole which is the best for a particular organization’s needs.
Harking back to the digitalization stream, the way to feed this stream further is to take a strategic approach to cybersecurity. For a lot of organizations with a multi-vendor security strategy, the main pain points are visibility and a clear overview of their security status.
This needs to be addressed in ways suitable to the digitalizing environment and economy. And these ways often are not the streams of yesterday, followed by the dead fish.
Determine your cybersecurity needs, and take them as a starting point – and then get the partners and technologies you need. Pick and choose the best of the best of combinations available.
Make your own stream.
Do you want to know more about securing your business in Sweden? Get in touch with me.
Peter has a long track record of helping businesses increase their security posture. With a curious mindset and a geek's mentality towards technology, Peter helps customers navigate through the enormous security landscape to achieve the best possible outcome. This curiosity led to a deep dive into GDPR and the many challenges our customers and their consumers face, to better understand and advise on how security can play a supportive role in order to obtain compliance. Peter has a background from companies such as F-Secure, Atea as well as Nordic startups.