Intelligence-driven security combining AhnLab’s insight with customer experience

Security is inconvenient and difficult.
Most people feel so burdened by security issues. Why is that?
An organization or a company is composed of a variety of members and each member’s understanding of security can be different. The average employee finds security to be troublesome and burdensome. IT and security managers, of course, understand the importance of security enhancement, but they also don’t feel at ease about security due to the fact that there is an inevitable internal resistance when enforcing regulations and compliance. For decision-makers including CIOs and CISOs, security is also a challenge in terms of cost, business continuity and reputation.
However, security is not something you can avoid or hold off on. Every member of an organization should recognize that security is a fundamental factor for carrying out one’s business, and security is for the good of everyone. In this perspective, Chijung Kwon, AhnLab’s CEO, proposes “Security for all and by all.” Let’s take a look at a recent press interview with AhnLab’s CEO and find out about the intelligence-driven security that he proposes.  

Easy Security: Talking about security in a “language” everyone can understand
Security may become optimal if the three factors of security - people, process, and technology – can advance their standings with each other. In the harsh light of reality, however, security only tends to converge on technology. In order to deploy security in a proper and practical manner, every single member of the organization must participate. Prior to this, it was necessary to build consensus among the members as to why security was so important.
Socrates, one of the great Greek philosophers, said, “To talk to a craftsman, talk in his langue.” If you want to make other people understand you, you should talk to them in an “easy form of langue, or speech,” which is their language. It’s the same with security. People will participate more when they understand the concepts better, and security will be able to be reinforced in this way. Then, even if an incident occurs, it’s possible to respond quickly and find the problem. Moreover, it’s even possible to make proper measures to prevent similar incidents. In this regard, AhnLab always has made efforts to talk to our customers in an “easier langue” so that they can understand security better.  
 
Interactive Security: It is not a matter of choosing but being interactive
Increasingly sophisticated and diverse threats continue to occur. In order to deal with them, more and more security solutions have been developed and deployed at every stage of the IT infrastructure and in numerous business fields - Anti-virus software for endpoint security, firewalls for networks, and advanced security solutions to prevent APTs (Advanced Persistent Threats).

One thing to remember at this point is that all of these solutions do not stand independent of each other. Malware stalks not only the endpoints layer including PCs and mobile devices, but also the network layer, and aims their sights at the slightest chance to launch their attacks. Moreover, the latest malware may even bypass the latest security solutions.
Perhaps you have come to conclude that the traditional perimeter-based security solutions are useless and no longer effective. This is not true. Security solutions can still effectively protect your systems against various cyber attacks. In addition, these solutions are more effective when they interoperate with each other at every perimeter point to detect malware and analyze their behavioral patterns. In other words, the most effective and reliable protection arises when each individual solution interoperates with each other based on a strategic security framework. Security is not a matter of choosing A or B, but of dealing with security issues based on the interdependence of both A and B together.

Security into Action: Prioritize your security issues
Security is not just a matter of choice, but also of execution. Companies need to know what security threats they are exposed to and what they need to prevent them. They also need to know what regulations and compliances they should adhere to. Most of all, it is important to lead with the spontaneous participation of all members through consensus. Security is not only a matter of concern for IT managers or security experts. The core of security lies in the holistic balance of people, process, and technology.

In the meantime, there will be a hole in the interactive security of A and B when you believe that every security issue is equally important and thus every issue should be solved. However, the importance and urgency may differ depending on each member's perspective. Considering the limitations of your budget, you should prioritize security issues and find proper measures because you cannot take various actions all at once.

Customer Experience and Intelligence: The Criteria for Actions are the Customers
Who decides what priorities determine the actions taken for companies? Are the security vendors or the researchers the ones to prioritize security actions? Absolutely not. Customers are the criteria for deciding what is most important and what should be done first.

AhnLab considers security priorities to be decided upon based on customers’ experience and intelligence accumulated through various trials and mistakes. All security solutions have come from actual security issues that customers have had to face. Therefore, customer experiences and the intelligence derived from those experiences are the key factors in deciding what is most important and urgent.
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​AhnLab Provides the Intelligence-driven Security
AhnLab has provided various security solutions and services for over twenty years. With its headquarters in South Korea and offices in the US, Japan, China and APAC, 50 percent of AhnLab employees are in R&D. We are confident of our ability to collect and analyze malware and to respond to malware threats.
Up to this time, we had focused on products and solutions that implemented our abilities. From now, however, we will focus on intelligence-driven security to deliver a more comprehensive security that combines our security insight with our customers’ experiences.

Clearly, developing new solutions is important, but customer experience and the intelligence they have accumulated through business activities are invaluable. Therefore, AhnLab makes an effort to find the adaptive approach to customer-driven security so that we can deliver security intelligence that goes beyond just delivering security solutions.