How serious is the cyber threat today?
In the past, organizations had their own mainframes and their own on-premises infrastructure. An adversary had to target those assets and it was easier to defend them. Now businesses rely on the Internet, Cloud services and data centers, and their employees want to be connected all the time. So it is much easier for hackers to find a soft spot and infiltrate an organization. I would say that the threat is more serious than it has ever been.
What new approaches to cybersecurity are needed?
Historically, security worked by adding layers of defense for each different technology, e.g. for mobile devices or Cloud services. But that makes life harder for users. People want a simple experience that is inherently secure.
At Citrix we aim to deliver our enterprise customers with a single view of what services are being consumed, regardless of where the users are. We can give organizations visibility and control over a complex IT environment without needing experts for each application, network or device. Citrix is the only company that can enable security at the end point, in the network, in the Cloud, in the application and in the data center. We unify and simplify security.
How can you ensure security even on the Cloud?
Because we connect and communicate with Software as a Service (SaaS) providers, Cloud providers, mobile devices, carriers and the Internet, we have the ability to secure the perimeter of any service that is being delivered to a person. It doesn’t matter what Cloud you go through, or what network, or even if it’s on-premises.
What can you do to minimize the disruption of a cyberattack?
Think of it like a utility. When you get water to your house, and there’s a break in the water main, the water all the way down the stream can be negatively impacted. In the IT world, Citrix uses virtualization to give each person their own unique pipes.
That means that if an anomaly or attack occurs, all we do is shut down that one pipe while all of the other pipes continue to get the service they need. We can use machine learning and artificial intelligence to look inside every single pipe, detect anomalous behavior, and proactively defend an organization against attacks.
“Citrix technology solutions are simple, secure and customer-centric.”
Stan Black, Chief Security and Information Officer, Citrix
How important is it to keep things simple for end users?
We all need to remember that if we make consuming any service difficult, then users will just find a way to bypass security. At Citrix, we are spending a tremendous amount of our time on simplifying our technologies so that average users don’t have to be an IT person to use a service. We are committed to delivering not only a secure experience but one that is also intuitive and easy to use, on any device, network or Cloud.
I believe that technology and security providers need to get out of the way of business and understand what people need in order to do their jobs securely. At Citrix, we are focused on the core principles of choice, simplicity and a great user experience
As published in TIME magazine
