Is your organization ready for the data explosion?

“Data is the new oil” and its quantity is growing at an exponential rate, with IDC forecasting a 50-fold increase from 2010 to 2020. In fact, by 2020, it’s estimated that new information generated each second for every human being will approximate to 1.7 megabytes. This creates bigger operational issues for organizations, with both NetOps and SecOps teams grappling to achieve superior performance, security, speed and network visibility.

This delicate balancing act will become even more difficult if organizations don’t prepare for the continuous data explosion.

The enterprise’s network challenge

Perhaps the biggest challenge organizations face is how to consume large quantities of data at an optimal pace, while still achieving the visibility needed to gain actionable insights. The emergence of the Internet of Things and an increased 5G network buildout will add to the problem in the next few years. As a result, organizations will have to support future demand by investing in local area network/wide area network (LAN/WAN) infrastructure as well as network functions virtualization (NFV) with software-defined networking (SDN) controls.

Starting in 2019, organizations need to evolve to be able to accommodate the data explosion – or risk falling behind. “Slow is the new down” in this fast-paced, always-on era, so it’s time for businesses to realize the need for speed when optimizing their network.

Enterprise social data

During the past year, data privacy took center stage, with Facebook experiencing major backlash due to the way they handle user data. Organizations can learn a lot from Facebook’s recent headlines, especially as they continue adopting new social media programs and tools to further enhance exposure on these channels. Moving forward, enterprises must pay close attention to their social data to ensure it is being properly secured.

Enterprises will also have to evaluate their use of social media and the data accessible through these channels. Given the loose laws currently in place, organizations can expect to begin hearing preliminary discussions of applicable laws at a regional level, like GDPR and other legislation that moved forward this past year. Such laws will govern the sharing and storage of data derived from social media, as well as best practice guidelines to ensure compliance within organizations ranging from SMBs to large enterprises.

Security at the forefront

A key concern that has emerged for most organizations is the state of security. As new devices are introduced into the network at an alarming rate and as companies continue to virtually connect employees around the globe, it’s critical to secure the entire IT system, from the network to the data and beyond. With an increased attack surface, security processes must protect not only the perimeter, but data in motion and at rest.

IoT devices are largely unprotected and therefore especially vulnerable to attack. Cyber criminals will continue to go after sensitive data, leveraging this ongoing data explosion. Specifically, we can expect nation-state threat actors to continue perpetrating major data breaches. In the new year, North Korea will become more daring as the White House turns their heads to focus on finding a solution to nuclear weaponry. These factors are bound to have large brands and government organizations on edge when it comes to cybersecurity, as no one wants to face the public scrutiny following a major data breach.

Beyond nation-states, organizations will continue to see successful attacks carried out through spear phishing. The tactic will also become more targeted than ever before as more and more personal data becomes available on the dark web. Due to this uptick in spear phishing, enterprises will begin to see the rise of even more specialist tools for both NetOps and SecOps teams. These tools will require greater optimization of the network as well as security.