Expect the unforeseen when inviting a comedian to deliver a keynote address.
It was probably unexpected for attendees at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference to hear John Mulaney criticize the tech innovators in the audience by denying their “trailblazer” status.
“Having 45,000 ‘trailblazers’ here cannot diminish the significance of the title any further,” Mulaney declared to the crowd.
This observation by Mulaney, though delivered as a jest, held a kernel of truth. When everything in the tech and cybersecurity realm is treated as cutting-edge, does it not dilute what truly stands out as groundbreaking? As Sumedh Thakar, President and CEO of Qualys, noted during a keynote at QSC24 Americas, if everything is considered critical, does anything truly stand out?
“The abundance of threats, patches, alerts, and vulnerabilities is overwhelming. It’s like a continuous game of risk whack-a-mole,” Thakar remarked.
In the realm of cybersecurity, the profusion of tools and novel technologies can be overwhelming. While not all innovations are disruptive, they are billed as potential solutions that could transform how analysts, CISOs, and security teams tackle threat prevention and response.
We reached out to several cybersecurity experts to glean insights on what qualifies as a disruptor and why they believe a technology, solution, or company is a genuine game-changer.
When every innovation is considered disruptive — except AI?
I assumed that most, if not all, of the individuals I spoke with would cite generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) as the most revolutionary disruptor in recent memory. AI is an omnipresent topic in cybersecurity and tech discussions, and companies are actively exploring ways to harness its potential for good while mitigating threats.
Surprisingly, generative AI was only mentioned once, and not in the way I had anticipated.
“The term ‘disruptor’ is trite and overused,” remarked Drew Perry, Chief Innovation Officer at Ontinue, in an email statement. “It doesn’t help that many individuals rely on ChatGPT to hype their products and services, often resulting in excessive use of ‘disruptor’ and the equally overused term ‘game-changing’.”
Perry highlighted that cybersecurity vendors aim to draw attention to their solutions with the hope of securing traction in the market.
“True disruptors are those who prioritize the human element,” Perry emphasized. The focus should be on offering solutions that resonate with people and compel them to share with their peers. This can entail not just innovative technologies or tools, but disruption achieved by excelling with unwavering passion.
Cloudflare is cited by Perry as an instance of a disruptive solution. “They develop practical and innovative offerings that disrupt the norm. For instance, providing content creators with tools to monitor AI bots scraping their content for training purposes and monetization — now that is genuine disruption in my view.”
The disruptor defined by adverse incidents
Various negative events such as notPetya, Stuxnet, the Sony Hack, and more recently, the Microsoft bluescreen incident triggered by Crowdstrike have significantly influenced the cybersecurity industry today, according to Agnidipta Sarkar, Vice President of CISO Advisory at ColorTokens.
“When reflecting on our current cybersecurity landscape and the individuals shaping digital behaviors, two significant innovations stand out to me. Firstly, the evolution of the zero trust architecture concept. Secondly, the regulatory impact starting with GDPR, which has elevated cybersecurity to a boardroom-level priority,” Sarkar explained.
Taking a different perspective, John Anthony Smith, Founder and CSO at Conversant Group, posited that the primary disruptors in cybersecurity are the threat actors themselves.
“I am continually surprised by the extent to which threat actor groups will go to coerce ransom payments — from wiping backups and data to system-wide encryption on a large scale,” Smith elucidated. “Threat actor organizations are growing more cunning and destructive than ever before. It is baffling how far they are willing to go to prevent data recovery, despite seeking ransom payment.”
Smith identifies threat actors who challenge conventional paradigms and utilize technologies akin to those employed by the heroes of cybersecurity as the genuine disruptors. “Threat actors leverage IT orchestration against organizations with astonishing speed and skill, yet few organizations grasp what measures are necessary to combat this looming threat,” Smith emphasized.
Redefining cybersecurity through a novel approach to risk management
Ken Dunham, Director of Cyber Threat at Qualys Threat Research Unit, believes his company has introduced a truly disruptive technology. While most firms operate a Security Operations Center (SOC), Qualys has pioneered a Risk Operations Center (ROC) based in the cloud.
In a conversation held at QSC24, Dunham underscored the common issue of “data drowning” experienced by many organizations. The common response is to throw resources at the problem, often investing in ineffective tools. Instead of relying solely on an ROC to manage data risks, security is approached from a business-centric standpoint.
Dunham regards risk management as a trailblazer in the security domain, necessitating a novel perspective on the issue at hand. By prioritizing risk management, organizations gain a quantified assessment of the impact of a cyber incident and contextualize the acceptable risk level for their operations.
“Essentially, only five percent of the multitude of risks genuinely require attention,” Dunham contended. “The crux lies in prioritizing them strategically and comprehensively to reduce overall risk exposure.”
The definition of a trailblazing technology, solution, or company is subjective per these insights. Therefore, Mulaney’s assertion may have been misjudged. The crowd consisted of trailblazers, but each was forging their own distinct path towards success.