State of Security 2004: You Are Here

What is the current reality in security and what will CSOs need to do before they can move forward? Come inside our special issue. We'll help you plot the future.

By Kathleen Carr

December 01, 2003 — CSO — Where's here? For the CSO, here is the promise of larger budgets and a seat at the executive table. But here is also the challenge of intrusion detection, government regulation, intellectual property theft and perimeter security.

For Starbucks CSO Francis D'Addario, here is a cash register whose till is short $25. For Matthew Devost, a founding director of the Terrorism Research Center, here is an airplane commandeered by a terrorist. For Michail Bletsas, director of computing at MIT's Media Lab, here is a desktop with faulty encryption. For American Electric Power CSO Michael Assante, here is a dark office amid a statewide blackout. And for Genzyme CSO Dave Kent, here is a building made of glass in a world where intellectual property theft lurks in the bushes.

In other words, here is the CSOs' current realityand it's what they'll need to face before they can move forward.

To get from here to there means creating a profitable environmentone that is also comfortable and safe. It means predicting the next form of terror and understanding the convergence of physical and IT threats. And it means developing clear guidelines to protect the critical infrastructure.

The final destination of every company's road map to security may be different, but you will face many of the same challenges as the CSOs above. What does here look like for your company? And then, where do you go from here?

In this special issue, we've asked CSOs, security experts and researchers to share their perspectives on the scenery, detours and bumps in the road that they've encountered on their journey from here to there. We'll help you plot where you are, where Washington is in terms of legislation, what the future holds for technology and where the bad guys hide.

You don't have a minute to waste. Start here.

Read more about identity & access in CSOonline's Identity & Access section.

Other stories by Kathleen Carr

• Print

• Security Job Descriptions
• Tips to Improve Public-Private CSO Partnerships
• The Blending of Physical and Information Security Threats
• Information Security Predictions in 2004
• Frank Abagnale: Q&A
• Eugene Spafford: Q&A