Role of IT security is changing

Next-generation working will in a few years entail a next-generation view of security, according to Martin Blackhurst

Martin Blackhurst: Today's 20-somethings will change the way we do IT security

Today’s new graduates will soon enter the workforce, and they will induce a radical switch in the way we do business, communicate, network and collaborate.

Look at the average 20-year-old, and I think you will see clues to to the future operation of business. They have a mindset that demands to communicate without thinking, wherever they are, with whatever tools are at their disposal.

I believe that business life will centre on smartphone, notebook or thin client communications, rather than a PC on a desk.

The tools of the trade will be social networking sites, online meeting places, text and IM as much as email and phone.

Social networks are so endemic to the next-generation workforce that to ban their personal use will no longer be acceptable. Work and non-work boundaries will vanish, in my opinion.

With home and mobile working already common, work patterns will change. New mindsets in the workplace will be needed to deal with the information addiction of our newest employees.

Productivity, to them, will be based on doing what’s needed, when it’s needed, and that covers both work and non-work life across the full 24 hour cycle.

These changes will radically alter our view of the role of information security in organisations and trigger a necessary change in mindset and approach to that information security.

In the not-so-distant past organisations were vastly different to what they will be in just three years. The threats are changing but so is the role of security. It’s no longer just about protection and locking up your data.

It’s going to be about letting data flow as freely as is securely possible to achieve the best economic returns and results for the organisation.

Organisations will have to evolve their IT security strategy, away from excessive security or ‘lock down’ that will stifle innovation and productivity.

Information security will have be more than just an insurance policy.

Martin Blackhurst is head of IT security at Redstone Managed Solutions