Attempting to navigate the current Security landscape is the equivalent of walking into a supermarket with a hungry stomach and no shopping list. You’ll likely walk away with more than you intended with no real certainty on when you’ll get around to using all the pieces in your shopping bag.

In working with clients, we find two very common themes. The first is the client being overwhelmed with choices to make. The second is uncertainty if one product compliments or differentiates from another. This muddies the waters when it comes to defining clear cut use cases due to the vast overlap in platforms. 

Let’s take a look at this graph recently published by Canalys.

There is no doubt that each of the 5 vendors mentioned by name will have their marketing teams in a frenzy to make the numbers sing their tune. That’s what they should be doing. However, it’s the “unmentioned” 65% that greatly contributes to the disparate environment we find ourselves in.

The 65% which could be referred to as “minority majority” takes the lion’s share of the market. This means hundreds of vendors are out there extolling the virtues of their offerings and onboarding customers. For customers, this now creates another platform to manage and additional data points to aggregate.

An ever-growing number of new attack vectors will undoubtedly lead to new opportunities for creative minds to build products and start new companies.  

The cyber security landscape, in some ways, is at an early stage of maturation and it’ll take time for the “minority majority” to become a minority. This will happen through acquisitions and platform evolution by the leading players.  

Does that mean you should sit on the sideline until the market sorts itself out?  

No! You cannot afford to do that. Failure to comply with national security standards and regulations specific to your industry can have irreparable financial and reputational damage. You must act. It’s also just good ethics to ensure you’re protecting the information of those who put their trust into doing business with you.  

Going back to our supermarket example, you can make things easier for yourself. Start off by making a list. Simply itemise what you’re trying to accomplish with regards to the information you’re trying to protect and how people are most likely able to obtain that information through malicious means. Then limit your search to the products in those aisles. Ask questions. Lots of questions:

See how their answers fit the criteria on your list. This will help you arrive at a decision faster and importantly; you won’t have overbought and be stuck figuring out what to do with the excess.

Security is and will continue to appear overwhelming but using a simple approach and having a plan before you even embark on a journey will avoid a lot of uncertainty and help you arrive at your goals faster, more affordably, and with a lot less stress along the way.

Tesrex specialises in cyber security and we often assist businesses at all different stages of their security journey. If you want to bounce ideas off a member of our team without any obligations and fine print, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us! We’d love to answer any questions you may have.

To read our article on Cisco Stealthwatch, please click here.

To see our Security page, please click here.