Developing a security, compliance, and risk management strategy is essential in today’s landscape, but without question, can be incredibly complex.
This article will show you how the Gartner Magic Quadrant, and the ‘IT Roadmap for Cybersecurity’ Gartner document will not only help get your organization started, but support it throughout the entire process.
What is the Gartner Magic Quadrant?
The Gartner Magic Quadrant is a diagram that shows how well technology companies are performing. The quadrant is divided into four parts: Leaders, Niche Players, Challengers, and Visionaries. Companies are placed in these sections depending on their ability to execute and their completeness of vision.
Leaders are only those vendors that are the best equipped to succeed in the near future, while Niche Players are strong in one area but lack breadth. Challengers are growing quickly and have a good chance of becoming Leaders, while Visionaries are not yet profitable but have a promising future.
How Can the Gartner Magic Quadrant Cyber Security Support Organizations Cybersecurity & Risk Management Strategies?
The Gartner Magic Quadrant allows organizations identify which providers are best suited to support their cybersecurity and risk management strategies. These analysis are further supported by Gartner research publications which provide deep insight into only those vendors identified within the Gartner Magic Quadrant.
The areas that Gartner’s research organization evaluates (may) include each provider’s:
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Completeness of Vision:
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Products/services,
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Overall visibility,
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Sales execution/pricing,
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Market responsiveness and track record,
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Marketing execution,
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Customer experience, and
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Operations.
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Ability to Execute:
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Marketing understanding,
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Marketing strategy,
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Sales strategy,
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Offering (product) strategy,
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Business model,
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Vertical/industry strategy,
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Innovation, and
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Geographic strategy.
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The Gartner Magic Quadrant (and associated Gartner research publications) can help you decide which provider is best suited to your organization’s security needs by giving you deep insight into each providers strengths and weaknesses.
Identify Mission Critical Priorities & Align the Business Strategy.
Before a risk management strategy can be developed, you must have a clear understanding of the business. This means ensuring a particular purpose can be identified for each action performed to support performance on your mission.
This is typically identified at the highest level of organizations and should include:
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Identification of the organization’s mission,
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Clearly defined business objectives that identify clear requirements each with a particular purpose,
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An understanding of the organization’s obligations (statutory, regulatory, contractual), and
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Identification of key stakeholders including their requirements and responsibilities.
Understanding the business context allows the organization to understand where it’s going (over the next 1, 3, and 5 years), what risks could keep the organization from meeting those goals, and develop a plan to address those risks.
Develop a Plan to Increase the Organization’s Security Capabilities & Reduce Risk.
With a clear understanding of the business, the organization can begin developing a plan to address each relevant risk (cybersecurity or otherwise). These analysis typically include multiple planning sessions with key stakeholders. Some of the methods that support this process include:
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Cybersecurity gap assessments,
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Compliance gap assessments,
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Vulnerability and penetration tests,
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Gain insight from technology users and other relevant stakeholders,
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Adopting a policy framework, and
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Establishing security baselines.
Some of the common areas of focus to enhance the organization’s security and risk include:
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Identify how to better contain security incidents,
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Implement a zero trust architecture and move towards zero trust network access,
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Ensure all utilized cloud services implement strict cybersecurity controls,
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Increase network security to protect data,
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Deploy a secure web gateway at every security service edge,
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Identify security requirements within each associate’s job function,
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Utilize only those vendors and organizations that meet your organization’s security and serviceability requirement,
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Implement or expand security awareness and training to advise technology users of their roles in the organization’s security, and
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Much, much, more.
It should be noted, that this is an iterative process that will continued to be performed to further refine the organization’s risks management strategy, and develop future plans.
Implement Your Cybersecurity & Risk Management Strategy
Once all of the gaps and needs are identified, the organization’s risk management strategy can be implemented. Essentially this is where the rubber meets the road and all the relevant team members and stakeholders will work to integrate the new security controls and execute their assigned responsibilities. This is also where appropriate providers from Gartner’s Magic Quadrant will be engaged.
Mature Your Cybersecurity & Risk Management Program to Continually Improve.
Once implementation begins, it will be an ongoing process to continually mature (improve) your organization’s risk management program. This entails the review of performance metrics and audits to identify what’s working, what’s not, and what can be further improved. Additional methods to support your organization’s continual improvement include:
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Join your peers to gain insights at Gartner conferences and other risk management conferences,
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Subscribe to the latest cybersecurity news feeds and Gartner magic quadrant research publications to help you stay informed,
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Continue to implement zero trust architecture, and
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Advise technology users to provide feedback and relevant data to support the security and risk management program’s continued improvement.
Utilize the Gartner Magic Quadrant for a More Security Organization.
Developing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving the organization’s cybersecurity and risk management capabilities is an in-depth and ongoing process. Though using the right tools, like Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, and the ‘IT Roadmap For Information Security’ Gartner document (and so many others) can provide excellent guidance help organizations effectively manage their security, compliance, and risk management needs.