Big data may help security industry slow down cybercriminals

Much of the news surrounding big data analytics generally involves how businesses can better understand certain information to help with their decision-making in their respective fields. Although this is beneficial on many levels, big data may also open new doors when it comes to defending companies against continued cyberattacks. A recent All Things D report suggested that this idea is gaining steam throughout the IT community.

In an interview with the news source, HP Senior Vice President and head of enterprise security products Art Gilliland asserted that the security industry needs to focus more on stopping hackers from infiltrating their systems.

"The industry needs to focus on the adversary in a little different way than it has in the past," Gilliland told the news provider. "We spend a lot of time on the actors themselves, and we don't spend enough time focusing on the marketplace in which they participate. That marketplace behaves in a very specific way."

Gilliland told All Things D that the security industry must find ways to disrupt cybercriminals at every turn, not just one, which will likely make it more expensive for hackers to be successful. Big data may help firms identify malicious parties while they are still accessing a system.

If the security industry can use cloud computing and big data technologies to establish an information-sharing community, it may have the ability to dissuade hackers, according to Gilliland.

The importance of big data security is expected to result in the need for even more skilled employees to protect businesses from attacks. Computerworld contributor Dave Bellai suggested that data analysts, developers and scientists will all be hot commodities moving forward for firms and government agencies using big data.