Visibility Without Context Is Just Noise

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TechSpective Podcast Episode 117

“You can’t protect what you can’t see.”

The first time someone said that, I am sure it was very profound. It is an obvious statement, but also very powerful in the context of cybersecurity. If you aren’t even aware of the hardware assets connected to your network, or the software applications they are running, how can you possibly be aware of any vulnerabilities or weaknesses they may contain, and how could you take meaningful steps to reduce your exposure to risk.

Short answer: You can’t.

That is why the mantra “You can’t protect what you can’t see” remains powerful despite being obvious, and even as it has attained buzzword hype status for cybersecurity vendors. Everyone claims to provide “complete” or “comprehensive” visibility at this point. However, there is another piece of the puzzle that is essential: context.

The founder and CEO of JupiterOne, Erkang Zheng, shares his thoughts on the importance of context. Visibility is important, but what is equally–or more–crucial is having context to go with the visibility. Knowing all of the hardware and software assets connected to your network–or even that your hardware and software interacts with beyond your network–is not very helpful if you don’t also understand what those assets are doing and why, and how a compromise of those assets could impact your organization.

Check out the full episode for more on visibility and context for cybersecurity. Zheng and I also talk about the unique and innovative “Data Heist” events JupiterOne has been hosting around the country. The podcast itself is audio-only, but the video of our conversation is also available on YouTube if you prefer:

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