Security teams face significant challenges amid rising geopolitical threats. Efforts are focused on operational efficiency, threat intelligence, and risk assessment.
- 60% of security professionals prioritise operational efficiency.
- Enhancing threat intelligence generation and analysis is critical.
- Risk assessment remains a top priority for 56% of professionals.
- Broader business initiatives are influenced by geopolitical conditions and technological advancements.
Security management professionals are grappling with three crucial priorities amid escalating geopolitical challenges: operational efficiency, threat intelligence, and risk assessment. A recent report by the International Security Management Association (ISMA) highlights that 60 per cent focus on operational efficiency, while 56 per cent underscore the importance of enhancing threat intelligence. Risk assessment also remains a key priority.
Security teams are tasked with supporting more initiatives often with limited resources. Despite these constraints, they must provide reliable, comprehensive, and timely security intelligence to support decision-makers. By focusing on operational efficiency, intelligence gathering, and risk assessments, security and intelligence teams can better address these top priorities.
Operational efficiency is particularly critical, given tight budgets and limited staff. Security teams can achieve greater efficiency by fostering team agility, quickly identifying and prioritising critical events. This involves maintaining a credible source list and being able to pivot smoothly across different geographies and threats. A major challenge is the wide range of threats requiring teams to swiftly change priorities without setbacks. External experts can also enhance capabilities without adding headcount, providing location-specific intelligence and validating information to ensure accurate decision-making. Additionally, geopolitical threats often have wide-reaching impacts, affecting global employees, operations, and supply chains. Therefore, security professionals should collaborate with other departments to support strategic planning and comprehensive preparedness.
In a complex world, technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP) have revolutionised intelligence-gathering. These technologies streamline data collection and analysis, allowing analysts to focus on verifying events and evaluating trends. Advances in data modelling shift teams from reactive to proactive strategies. Customising alert systems based on organisational needs prevents teams from being overwhelmed by irrelevant notifications, ensuring valuable intelligence is not missed. Moreover, the rise of misinformation makes it crucial to verify events through reliable sources and multiple channels.
Effective risk assessments are essential for timely communication of emerging threats to decision-makers. Engaging leaders to define acceptable risk levels establishes a baseline for security activities, guiding the team’s focus and response strategies. Defining risk levels and setting security benchmarks ensures appropriate notifications and actions, keeping leadership informed about significant threats. Moreover, a clear communications plan with regular, concise updates helps leaders understand the impact of events and the effectiveness of security measures.
As geopolitical risks evolve, security and intelligence operations face increased complexity. Teams must protect diverse assets across regions with unique threats and risk tolerances. Establishing strong processes and leveraging innovative technologies can alleviate major pain points, enhancing security team performance. Prioritising operational efficiency, intelligence gathering, and risk assessments strengthens organisational responses to threats.
Focusing on operational efficiency, intelligence gathering, and risk assessments enables organisations to respond more effectively to security threats.