{"id":20772,"date":"2016-05-09T17:15:26","date_gmt":"2016-05-09T17:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2016\/05\/09\/why-cyber-tools-are-not-total-solutions\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:44:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:44:43","slug":"why-cyber-tools-are-not-total-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2016\/05\/09\/why-cyber-tools-are-not-total-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"Why cyber tools are not total solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I had the opportunity to attend this year\u2019s RSA Conference in San Francisco and I was impressed with the hundreds of cybersecurity exhibitors on display there. If you ever have the chance to go and haven\u2019t been already, do yourself a favor and take the trip. It\u2019s absolutely worth the investment.If you do go, be prepared for a crowd. This year\u2019s event boasted over 40,000 attendees. I walked the floor and was amazed at the questions being asked, the issues various organizations are facing, and how vendors they <\/span>\u200bare all attempting to solve the cybersecurity threat as they each perceive it. That\u2019s not to mention the amount of<\/span><\/span>\u200bresources they collectively are spending trying to find answers.According to Cybersecurity Ventures\u2019 Cybersecurity Market Report<\/a> for Q4 2015, “Market research firm Gartner says global spending on IT security is set to increase 4.7 percent in 2015 to $75.4 billion, and the world will spend $101 billion on information security in 2018.” After attending the 2016 RSA conference, it is obvious that attendance at the show reflects these numbers. The money and time being spent in this area are simply mind-numbing.What hit me the most was how many vendors and companies were offering standalone cybersecurity tools without offering a complete solution. I couldn\u2019t shake the feeling of being at a car show full of parts vendors but seeing very few cars for sale. If your main goal is to get to one place from another, just buying a steering wheel and some brake pads isn\u2019t going to do the trick. Why should cybersecurity be any different?It also reminded me of a story I\u2019d heard about a customer who enters a hardware store and makes a beeline for a sales clerk:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customer: “I need to buy a tool.”<\/p>

Clerk: “What kind of tool are you looking for?”<\/p>

Customer: “I want to work in my yard and I need a tool to make it easier.”<\/p>

Clerk: “Why don’t we talk about what you want to accomplish in your yard and then I can help you select the best tool for the job.”<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This little story has so many applications in the cybersecurity realm. At RSA Conference, vendors are selling tools and they aren\u2019t lacking for customers, but to what end? The majority of people I asked this question of replied simply that they wanted a tool to counter cyber threats or something to identify and counter the potential of an insider threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Very few of the people I spoke with, however, could answer the basic and integral questions they should have been asking themselves all along:<\/p>\n\n\n\n