How to manage 3 top trends in 2012: Big data, consumerization of IT and mobile growth

Nonprofit IT association ISACA has shared recommendations
for managing three of the trends including Big Data, the consumerization of
information technology (BYOD) and the growing dominance of mobile devices.


Big Data–Coaxing Order Out of Chaos

Big Data describes not only the extremely large volumes
of data being collected by enterprises in an increasingly connected world, but
also their diverse sources, including social networks, sensor networks,
customer chat sessions and more.


Big Data is going to evolve out of its ‘shiny new
object’ status in 2012. IT leaders will need to figure out how to coax order
out of the chaos from all those zeroes and ones, as well as optimize ROI and
manage data privacy,” said Ken Vander Wal, CISA, CPA, international president
of ISACA.


Enterprises should aim for early success by using
analytics across many projects for greater insight, performing ad hoc analysis
to support key areas of risk, and defining measures of success along the way.


The Invasion of Consumer Devices

The consumerization of IT, marked by the invasion of
employee-owned smartphones and tablet devices into the workplace, is predicted
to be another major trend in 2012. Employees who use their own devices for work
functions gain flexibility and can be more productive, but those devices are
typically more difficult for IT to secure and manage.


Bring Your Own Device is a fast-moving train. IT
departments have to jump on it or risk getting left at the station,” said
Robert Stroud, CGEIT, CRISC, past international vice president of ISACA and
vice president, Innovation and Strategy, CA Technologies.


Organizations that embrace the BYOD trend need to
consider a two-pronged approach to security by focusing on both the device and
the data it can access. In 2012, we should see an increased focus on the mobile
device and its access to information.


IT professionals’ acceptance of this trend is mixed. More
ISACA members in Europe, North America and Oceania say their enterprises allow
employees to use corporate IT assets and time for personal purposes to promote
work-life balance, while those in Asia, Latin America and Africa say their
enterprises generally restrict this due to security concerns.


Growth in Mobile Equals Growth in Threats

One of most prominent elements in the 2012 security
landscape will be the growth of mobile devices, including everything from
smartphones and tablet computers to laptops and Universal Serial Bus (USB)
memory sticks.


2012 will see a sharp increase in attacks targeted at
mobile devices, either to exploit them or use them as an access point to
corporate networks,” said John Pironti, CISM, CRISC, CISSP, security advisor,
ISACA, and president, IP Architects.


ISACA advises that information security managers need to
create an easily understood and executable policy that protects against the
data leakage and malware — and then communicate it. In ISACA’s recent BYOD
survey of 1,224 US consumers, 16 percent of respondents say their organization
does not have a policy prohibiting or limiting personal activities on work
devices, and another 20 percent do not know if one exists.


Setting and communicating policies are central to
effective governance of enterprise IT (GEIT), which is a priority with most
enterprises. Only 5 percent of business executives and heads of information
technology surveyed indicated that they do not consider it important, and
two-thirds of enterprises have some GEIT activities in place. However, the
survey uncovered opportunity for IT leaders to be more proactive, especially in
striking a balance between innovation projects and run the business” tasks.


By Telecomlead.com Team
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