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IDC Security Roadshow

Preparing for a New Era of Cyberthreats

Overview

Security-focused technologies have come a long way thanks to massive technological leaps and the adoption of a digital-first approach to business. Over the coming few years, the pace of rapid change and digital acceleration is expected to gain even more momentum. Today, IT security professionals face numerous challenges such as the need to protect a distributed workforce, an internet that is faster than ever before (5G), interconnectivity that is increasing in complexity, and customers looking for immersive experiences and greater security for their data with stricter government regulations in place.


In the face of this volatile and shifting threat landscape, organizations across South Africa are diligently working to strengthen their security postures and support innovation. They are investing more and more in security services to meet the challenges that come with limited numbers of security specialists, higher numbers of remote workers, changing compliance and regulatory requirements, new hybrid environments, accelerating cloud investments, and the complexities of next-generation technologies.


The 2023 edition of the IDC Security Roadshow will explore South Africa's security landscape, showcase the very latest in security innovation, and bring together the foremost cybersecurity experts.

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Thursday August 17, 2023
8:00

Registration & Networking
9:30

IDC Welcome Address
9:35

IDC Keynote Address: Preparing for a New Era of Cyberthreats
9:50

Collaboration Security: Risks and Realities of the Modern Work Surface
10:05

Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win an Apple AirTag
10:10

Enabling Cybersecurity Resilience to Keep Up with Rapid Digitalization and a Shifting Threat Landscape
10:55

Tea / Coffee & Networking Break
11:35

Time for Fitness: Exercise & Energize
11:40

End-User Case Study Presentation: Audit Digitalization
11:55

Digital Trust and Applications Are Key
12:05

Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win a Wireless Charger Set
12:10

Below The Surface - Using Attack Surface Management to Drive Change
12:20

Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win a Mug Warmer Set
12:25

Cybersecurity Threat Landscape: How to Mitigate the Risk?
12:35

Ask Questions, Rate Sessions & Stand a Chance to Win an Alex Verga Notebook
12:40

Shift left: The Journey of Infusing Appsec in Our Cybersecurity Practice
12:55

Lunch & Networking

Speakers

Jonathan Tullett

Associate Research Director, IT Services Sub-Saharan Africa, IDC

Brian Pinnock

Vice President, Sales Engineering, Mimecast

Itumeleng Makgati

Executive Information Security, Standard Bank

Sithembile Songo

Group Head: Information Security, Eskom Holdings

Lauren Berrington

Chief Audit Executive, Bidvest

Pearl Hlabangana Show full profile linkedin

Pearl Hlabangana

Head Information Security & Governance, MTN Fintech

Andre Schreuder

Global Head of IT Audit, Investec

Aslam Raffee

Customer Success Manager, SUSE

Haythm Alshehab

Technical Sales Engineer, Randori, an IBM Company

Dmitry Galov

Head of Global Research and Analysis Team Russia, Kaspersky

Bramley Maetsa

Digital Innovation Enablement Lead, Sasol

Partners

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Exhibit Partner
Associate Partner
Health Partner

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Venue

Focus Rooms, Johannesburg

Knowledge Hub

Analyst Spotlight
A New Approach to Security in the Post-Pandemic World

Frank Dickson,
Group Vice President, Security & Trust, IDC

As we enter 2023, we can finally, for the most part, put reactionary moves due to COVID-19 behind us as the disease moves from a pandemic to an endemic part of daily life. We have accepted that digital transformation moved at a feverish pace, transitioning our enterprises to digital first years before we anticipated. The possibilities of remote work gave way to the reality that hybrid work is here to stay. These are truths that we have accepted

Analyst Spotlight
A New Approach to Security in the Post-Pandemic World

Frank Dickson,
Group Vice President, Security & Trust, IDC

As we enter 2023, we can finally, for the most part, put reactionary moves due to COVID-19 behind us as the disease moves from a pandemic to an endemic part of daily life. We have accepted that digital transformation moved at a feverish pace, transitioning our enterprises to digital first years before we anticipated. The possibilities of remote work gave way to the reality that hybrid work is here to stay. These are truths that we have accepted.

The economic headwinds we are experiencing have re-energized a trend that was muted by the pandemic. The C-suite appreciates the value and importance of security both now and into the future. C-level executives are actively planning continued investments in security to ensure the viability of their enterprises. However, C-level executives are growing tired of the continually growing financial appetite of security and are looking to reduce spending when and where possible. They are demanding accountability for the spend; in essence, they are looking for secure outcomes that are measurable and meaningful.

The result of this security confluence is a migration of approaches. The breach detection mindset of the past is giving way to a view that positions security as a way of improving an organization's cyber-risk posture, a posture that is tightly coupled with the goals of the organization and decreasing business risk. In its 2023 Future of Trust FutureScape, IDC predicted that by 2025, 45% of CEOs, fatigued by security spending without predictable ROI, will demand security metrics and results measurement to assess and validate investments made in their security program.

The IDC Security 2023 ( South Africa) will look to address security in this new reality. We will help guide you in working with the CEO and boards of directors as we transition to delivering secure outcomes and a trusted organization to our executive constituencies.

Analyst Spotlight
The Key Trends Shaping Security in 2023

Shilpi Handa,
Associate Research Director (META), IDC

In 2022, geopolitics was at the forefront of driving cybersecurity initiatives, and cyber-resiliency was one of the hottest cybersecurity strategies being talked about throughout the year. As we transition through 2023, we are still seeing geopolitical-driven cybersecurity trends as businesses are planning their cyber-recovery and cyber-continuation strategies with the issue of digital sovereignty firmly in mind.

Analyst Spotlight
The Key Trends Shaping Security in 2023

Shilpi Handa,
Associate Research Director (META), IDC

In 2022, geopolitics was at the forefront of driving cybersecurity initiatives, and cyber-resiliency was one of the hottest cybersecurity strategies being talked about throughout the year. As we transition through 2023, we are still seeing geopolitical-driven cybersecurity trends as businesses are planning their cyber-recovery and cyber-continuation strategies with the issue of digital sovereignty firmly in mind.

While digital sovereignty has placed a sharp focus on in-country IT operation capabilities, this is actually a much broader topic than just data sovereignty. Indeed, across the Middle East, we are increasingly seeing providers adopt strategies that are focused on sovereign clouds.

Another unmissable trend to look out for in 2023 will be the adoption of generative AI within customer security strategies. We are already seeing vendors launch generative AI assistance for security operations, and this will be a groundbreaking trend as it hits directly at the heart of the security skills challenge that the region has been facing for almost half of the last decade. At IDC, we are confident that the adoption of generative AI will positively disrupt the security operations space over the coming years.

The final most promising trend that will shape security in 2023 centers around attack surface management. The rate of IT spending is scaling massively across the region — so much so that it is hard to keep track of digitalization and all the associated assets, including on-premises servers, endpoints, mobiles, cloud, IoT, third-party solutions, and OT devices.

As the proliferation is becoming unmanageable and increasingly complex, there is an absolute need for a uniform attack management strategy, starting right from knowing which assets are in place across the organization and then managing the vulnerabilities and threats across this infrastructure in a continual fashion.

The IDC South Africa Security 2023 will look to brainstorm some of these emerging areas and address the issue of security in this new reality.

Analyst Spotlight
Cloud Security

Manish Ranjan,
Senior Program Manager, IDC

Cloud security has come a long way since the start of the pandemic, not just in the Middle East and Africa but globally. Cloud adoption in general has gathered pace across the region, including South Africa. And while some countries are still in the early stages of cloud adoption, they are slowly starting to embrace the benefits of migrating certain workloads to the cloud.

Analyst Spotlight
Cloud Security

Manish Ranjan,
Senior Program Manager, IDC

Cloud security has come a long way since the start of the pandemic, not just in the Middle East and Africa but globally. Cloud adoption in general has gathered pace across the region, including South Africa. And while some countries are still in the early stages of cloud adoption, they are slowly starting to embrace the benefits of migrating certain workloads to the cloud.

Countries such as the UAE, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain have already embraced cloud as many regional and global cloud service providers have started to invest in in-country cloud datacentres, improving the availability of cloud skills and strengthening the overall ecosystem.

The pandemic played a vital role in accelerating cloud adoption due to the unprecedented business disruption that was seen in 2020 and early 2021. With many companies already planning cloud migration road maps, they had to quickly implement their cloud strategies in order to efficiently continue to run business operations. At the time, the digital footprint of businesses expanded, making them more vulnerable to cyberthreats. Indeed, businesses observed an increase in the number of cyberattacks during the pandemic, triggering demand for cybersecurity solutions and an increase in overall cybersecurity spending across the region.

Fast forward to 2023 and we are seeing increased cybersecurity awareness in South Africa and huge demand for cybersecurity solutions in general. Cloud security has now become one of the top concerns in the country, and a recent IDC Security Survey (January 2023) revealed that around 58% of South African organizations plan to invest in cloud security products such as CSPM, CWPP, and CASB over the next 12-18 months. At the same time, 52% of the respondents identified the security of users in the cloud as a key concern that impacts their business.

With the current energy crisis and high levels of loadshedding, companies in South Africa are increasingly relying on cloud to secure their data and reduce some of the burden on diesel budgets for generators. This has spurred a rise in cloud adoption. IDC predicts that this will drive even higher demand for cloud security over the next 12-18 months. However, the global recession has already started to negatively impact the country and resulted in more restricted budgets and/or budget cuts. When coupled with hiring freezes and the shortage of security skills, this will likely result in greater demand for outsourcing cloud security to MSSPs.

Analyst Spotlight
Network Security

Yotasha Thaver,
Research Analyst, IDC

As evolving business needs continue to drive the need for technological advancements, IoT, and enhanced digital transformation, we are also seeing increased demand for network security. Network security has always been an important investment consideration across all industries, and we have seen areas such as next-gen firewall and VPN become significant markets, with further growth expected over the next five years. 

Analyst Spotlight
Network Security

Yotasha Thaver,
Research Analyst, IDC

As evolving business needs continue to drive the need for technological advancements, IoT, and enhanced digital transformation, we are also seeing increased demand for network security. Network security has always been an important investment consideration across all industries, and we have seen areas such as next-gen firewall and VPN become significant markets, with further growth expected over the next five years.

Since South Africa has been heavily targeted by phishing attacks — which were identified as the country's top cyberthreat (followed by DDoS attacks) in a recent IDC Security Survey (January 2023) — the country has seen increased demand for security solutions such as email security, network detection and response, intrusion prevention, and identity and access management.

Indeed, identity and access management has seen huge growth and is an area of keen interest since employees and users are increasingly influential when it comes to expanding an organization's attack surface area. And more than half of the respondents to the aforementioned IDC Security Survey said that they plan to invest in network security as a whole. IDC also predicts that network security will see the highest growth rate of all software in South Africa over the coming years, with a five-year CAGR of 29.1% forecast through 2026.

An interesting emerging trend is incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) into not only network security but many other security areas as well. AI and ML are being used in network security to monitor network behaviors and assist in detecting potential security incidents. Such innovative solutions are becoming more accessible, driving demand across the wider region.

Analyst Spotlight
Digital Trust

Mark Walker,
Associate Vice President, IDC

South Africa has accelerated its way into the technology-first world by embracing digital transformation. This expansion of the country's digital surface area has unfortunately also led to more vulnerabilities and an increase in the frequency of cyberattacks. As a result, digital trust is now a top priority for customers, partners, stakeholders, and investors alike, and organizations are under mounting pressure to prevent security breaches, DDoS attacks, and the reputational damage they inflict. 

Analyst Spotlight
Digital Trust

Mark Walker,
Associate Vice President, IDC

South Africa has accelerated its way into the technology-first world by embracing digital transformation. This expansion of the country's digital surface area has unfortunately also led to more vulnerabilities and an increase in the frequency of cyberattacks. As a result, digital trust is now a top priority for customers, partners, stakeholders, and investors alike, and organizations are under mounting pressure to prevent security breaches, DDoS attacks, and the reputational damage they inflict.

As we know, South Africa is a heavily targeted country for various cyberattacks; however, it is also perceived as one of the META region's more mature countries in terms of cybersecurity. A tremendous number of cybersecurity initiatives have been implemented by organizations across the country, and security budgets continue to rise year on year. Areas such as security awareness, threat detection and response, cloud security, identity and access management, network security, application security, security information and event management, endpoint security, vulnerability management, and data loss prevention have all become staples of the modern business.

Many organizations are now focused not only on ensuring regulatory compliance, but also on establishing digital trust. Indeed, the issue of digital trust will remain a key concern for organizations across South Africa, spurring an increase spending in cybersecurity as a whole. In a recent IDC Security Survey (Jan 2023), more than half of the respondents identified zero trust initiatives and the need to automate the response to security incidents as planned areas of investment for the next 12–18 months.

In the same survey, 64% of the respondents said that protecting customer and employee data is a key security priority, while 47% revealed that making their organization 100% secure is a major area of focus. While South Africa has come a long way in terms of digital trust initiatives, it certainly has a long way to go in order to achieve an optimal level of digital trust. IDC believes this will remain a high-priority focus area that will continue to drive demand for cybersecurity solutions across the country.

Analyst Spotlight
OT Cybersecurity

Jonathan Tullett,
Associate Director, IDC

In general terms, operational technology (OT) encompasses the utilization of software and hardware elements that empower organizations to monitor and manage processes, infrastructure, and/or machinery. Over the past few years, Africa has emerged as one of the primary targets globally, with the region experiencing a steady increase in attacks on OT systems.

Analyst Spotlight
OT Cybersecurity

Jonathan Tullett,
Associate Director, IDC

In general terms, operational technology (OT) encompasses the utilization of software and hardware elements that empower organizations to monitor and manage processes, infrastructure, and/or machinery. Over the past few years, Africa has emerged as one of the primary targets globally, with the region experiencing a steady increase in attacks on OT systems.

Digital transformation has taken South Africa by storm, including the transition of OT to the cloud. At the same time, the proliferation of IoT is expanding the organizational threat surface, meaning appropriate OT cybersecurity measures need to be put in place in order to minimize the effects of cyberattacks on OT. Successful attacks have dire consequences and can cost millions of dollars.

IDC sees tremendous demand for OT security, with most companies in the region prioritizing OT security. In a recent IDC Security Survey (January 2023), one out of every three respondents indicated that security OT convergence (the integration of IT systems with OT systems) is a priority. DDoS attacks were identified as the second most common cyberattacks, while attacks on OT were shown to be the fifth most common form of cyberattacks. Against this backdrop, 44% of the respondents highlighted OT security as an investment area for the next 12–18 months.

With the threat surface expanding and more and more cybercriminals targeting important infrastructure, demand for OT security will increase exponentially over the next few years. This demand will be accelerated by initiatives undertaken by most businesses in the region to rapidly expand security awareness across the entire business and all employees.

In many cases, it is employees that pave the way for cybercriminals to gain access into an organization (e.g., via phishing emails), and most organizations are now taking the required action to prevent this from happening. Such moves will also have an important role to play in reducing OT vulnerabilities and thus reducing attacks on OT in the first place.

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