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Are Big Data and Cybersecurity a Perfect Match? Plus Your Weekend Reads!

We all know by now that cyberspace is the next frontier and that attacks are getting more sophisticated and effective. But the key to keeping your network may be big data.

Teradata and Ponemon Institute have looked at the results in their report: Big Data Analytics in Cyber Defense.

Sam Harris the Director of Enterprise Risk Management at Teradata. He told Chris Dorobek on the DorobekINSIDER program that only 20% of organizations believe they’re effective at stopping cyberattacks.


Before you can find the connection between big data and cybersecurity you first have to define big data. Harris says big data is:

  1. Volume
  2. Velocity
  3. Complexity

“People commonly think of big data is unstructured, that isn’t true. That is a misnomer because all data has structure it just might not be in the structure you are looking for,” said Harris.

The Cyber Link

“There is a very distinct link between data and cybersecurity. The traditional security platform is layered. But big data analytics can help you create this path analysis for events of interest like an intrusion,” said Harris.

  • An overwhelming 72% felt that security is more effective when Big Data is combined with SIEM. 82% said the same of Big Data combined with Anti-Virus. And, 80% said that Anti-DoS/DDoS is more effective when powered by analytics.
  • Many organizations reported struggling with adopting analytics technologies and developing skilled employees. Only 35% have Big Data solutions in place today. And, 49% do not have in-house personnel, or expertise to implement these solutions.

Key Findings

  • The cyber problem is getting worse. There is an increase in the sophistication and volume of attacks.
  • Big data analytics are commonly understood as a path forward. They are seen as a proactive move.
  • There is a shortage of security professionals.
  • But if you can leverage the big data tools, none security professionals can be better prepared for cyber instances.

Weekend Reads:

  • National Journal: FAA Furloughs to End, So Who Is To Blame for Flight Delays
  • The Atlantic: Politicians Will Only Roll Back Sequester Cuts that Hurt Them
  • Politico: Hillary Clinton on the Speech Circuit, 5 Takeaways
  • Politico: Best Lines Ever From the White House Correspondent’s Dinner
  • Rise And Shine: How Top CEOs Kick Off Super-Productive Days. They receive 500 emails a day and think life is “too exciting” to sleep in. Execs from Vodafone, AOL, and other companies on how they keep all the balls in the air. (Hint: start very, very early.)
  • Financial Times:Where others failed: Top 10 fads: Harder, by far, than picking the best management ideas of all time is picking the worst. I can think of no other area of expertise to which the word “fad” attaches itself so naturally. No one talks much of economics fads, or accounting fads, but there is something about the word “management” that means the word “fad” is never far away. In the 20 years that I have been writing about these things, I have seen so many come and go that whittling the list down to the 10 most dismal, most damaging or most daft management fads of all time has been exceptionally challenging.
    They include emotional intelligence and Six Sigma
  • Harvard Business Review: Three Rules for Making a Company Truly Organization. Do enduring companies have anything in common? When these Deloitte researchers ran the numbers they couldn’t find any answer — until they looked not at what firms did but at how leaders thought. The common thread: the rules they used to decide what strategies to pursue. Chose differentiation over price competition; focus on revenue before costs. The third rule? There are no other rules.

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