Day 16 - Naughty or Nice? Santa and Cyber Security

Cybersecurity is the body of technologies, processes and practices designed to protect networks, computers, programs and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access. In a computing context, security includes both cybersecurity and physical security. The physical security of Korvatunturi is taken care of an elf patrol but how is Santa’s operations secured towards the new invisible threats?

One of the most problematic elements of cybersecurity is the quickly and constantly evolving nature of security risks. In Santa’s case, the question is even trickier as his market is the whole world with loads of different kinds of approaches to these questions around the world. The traditional approach has been to focus most resources on the most crucial system components and protect against the biggest known threats, which necessitated leaving some less important system components undefended and some less dangerous risks not protected against.

According to new research results, the global cybersecurity market is expected to reach 170 billion by 2020. Santa has had his own share of the development as the people’s wish lists in a greater scale include different kinds of devices. Santa himself is happy to take advantage of different types of technical solutions to make it easier make the Christmas magic happen but he has followed the changes with a slight concern. The rapid market growth in the cyber business is being fueled by an array of technology trends, including the onslaught of initiatives with ever-evolving security requirements, like “bring your own device” (BYOD) and the internet of things (IoT).

Even the fast adoption of cloud-based applications and workloads extends the security needs beyond the traditional data centers; and stringent data protection mandates, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and the National Institute of Security Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework. The data center of Korvatunturi is proudly following the rules with their compliant data protection regime but would be even happier if Santa would not need to wonder if everybody has kind in the cyber world as well.