Infosec Europe, this year at London’s Excel arena, is an opportunity for those of us working day to day in the infosec space, to hear from experts about how the good guys are battling the challenges posed by cyber attackers.

There is always a lot to learn at events like this and I wanted to share my view on some of the innovations in the security space that I learned about at the event and where they may help those trying to tackle cybersecurity threats. The information I have put together came from a mix of vendor briefings as well as more casual conversations at vendor stands.

Key trends

All powerful AI

AI/ML and analytics were a constant across all vendors and this is not without reason. The amount of threat information that we are dealing with is vast, too vast. That is where effective use of analytics can have significant value. Vendors are increasingly using analytics tools to do much of the “heavy lifting”. Not to replace human insight and experience, but to augment it. Where threats are known and mitigation steps well defined, analytics can be effective in identifying risks and nullifying them without human interaction. Allowing over-stretched security analysts to focus on critical incidents that “all-conquering” AI can’t fix. It is clear this trend is here to stay but done well brings real value to cyber defences.

The Human Element

It’s not a new trend but it is good to see vendors building more people-centric security tools. People play such a huge part in cybersecurity, it is they who are targeted and who cause breaches, but they can also be our best defence. Education is a big part of engaging people in security and It was good to see the innovation here with vendors looking to improve the efficacy of user education. Analytics played a big part in many approaches using it to better target user training to exactly where it was needed and would be effective. It was also good to see a move away from just using training videos or phishing campaigns. Instead, there was a focus on new methods of training and engaging users. Users should be engaged in any organization’s security efforts. Because if not, every security move that you make will be much harder.

Risky Business

One trend that may seem odd is a shift of focus away from security! With organisations looking at risk rather than just security threats. Vendors are using this shift intelligently and are using risk calculations to provide more context to security decision-making and in doing so finding ways to apply security controls more intelligently. Consider data loss prevention. Traditionally a binary process, if file contains sensitive data then restrict, an approach that has led to the poor reputation that DLP solutions have, with over-sensitive controls impacting workflows, making adoption unpopular and difficult. A risk-based approach however allows for more dynamic controls. For example, a user working on a known device in an enterprise environment presents less risk than the same user on an unknown device in a random location. Using risk-based context we can intelligently apply controls with only the most stringent controls applied where higher risk exists. This kind of intelligence can help drive much more effective security.

Do I measure up?

Measuring security posture is clearly a growing market. I spoke with many vendors who were providing posture management tools. Whether for general security, or compliance, or tools with a specific focus such as data or cloud. But this was not the only use, an increasing number of vendors were using their data alongside third-party threat intelligence. This is being used to give their customers insights into how their security posture compares to other businesses of similar size, or in similar markets. This kind of information whether in a standalone posture management tool or part of a bigger solution is hugely valuable to an organization. If it can be mixed with additional insight showing how security investments and steps are helping to improve an organization’s security, then even better.

Summing up

Infosec Europe was time well spent. A lot of vendors, sessions and opportunities to interact with subject matter experts to exchange ideas with and learn from.

The above is just an overview of some of the key things I took from the event. The cybersecurity threat continues to be difficult to tackle, but what events like this show is that there is no lack of innovation from vendors and security professionals to tackle it.