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The Security Balancing Act: People – Process – Technology

Everyone in IT and Security has seen the “People, Process, and Technology – (PPT)” Venn
diagrams that depict the ideal state that enterprises are striving to achieve.

Instead of just looking at a PPT diagram alone – let’s also look at a Venn diagram depicting the
ideal state that employees want to achieve in their place of employment – their career.

The two diagrams when overlaid suggest that for an organization to achieve an ideal state of
security, the organization’s associates need to be able to achieve an ideal state within their career.
After many years in the IT Security industry, I find the most effective security practices involve a
balance of all three disciplines for an organization to succeed. The definition of success from
organization to organization may vary but in principle it is focused on the following:

• Engaged associates
• Brand protection
• Market share protection
• Consumer confidence

In order for the security balancing act to be successful, organizational processes must be sound. In
addition, the technology must be relevant to the business process, and people must be informed
65 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – February 2015 Edition
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