According to Salesforce, the definition of digital transformation is “the process of using digital technologies to create new — or modify existing — business processes, culture and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements.”
In other words, nearly all workers have access to a company’s IT systems and applications, and nearly all use technology on a daily basis in their personal lives. The two worlds have collided. Digital transformation has increased productivity and accessibility but has also introduced cybersecurity risks. According to the CompTIA State of Cybersecurity 2021 report, “consumer-level behavior is typically less aware of security than enterprise-level behavior.”
This introduces several challenges for cybersecurity professionals and requires specific skills. Cybersecurity is an integral part of digital transformation because digital technologies must be secure.
5 Challenges For Cybersecurity Professionals
Work anywhere policies have accelerated digital transformation as newer technologies allow employees to seamlessly work at the office or from a remote location. According to the CompTIA blog 4 Ways the COVID-19 Pandemic has Accelerated Digital Transformation, “Businesses have steadily embraced remote workers as a method for finding scarce talent or reducing real estate overhead. But the move to remote status for many workers shed some light on unresolved issues.”
At a minimum, cybersecurity professionals need to:
- Implement proactive solutions
- Focus more cloud-based workflow
- Move to zero trust
- Rely on security metrics
- Improve threat understanding
Implement a Proactive Approach
Cybersecurity professionals must be proactive and more involved to successfully implement digital transformation solutions. Although many companies have taken steps to strengthen their secure perimeter, such as augmenting their identity and access management, they have not embraced a proactive mindset. For example, penetration testing has gained importance within cybersecurity teams and organizations are supporting cyber range exercises to train both penetration testers and security analysts.
According to the CompTIA IT Industry Outlook 2022, “Organizations are starting to realize that either internal resources or outside partners are needed to probe systems and find any weak spots.”
These offensive measures are needed in addition to traditional defensive measures and require a purposeful organizational strategy and new investments.
The CompTIA Security+ exam objectives and CertMaster learning materials cover all aspects of proactive cybersecurity. For example, the CompTIA Security+ certification exam verifies the successful candidate has the knowledge and skills required to:
- Assess the security posture of an enterprise environment and recommend and implement appropriate security solutions
- Monitor and secure hybrid environments, including cloud, mobile and IoT
- Operate with an awareness of applicable laws and policies, including principles of governance, risk and compliance
- Identify, analyze and respond to security events and incidents
Focus on Cloud-based Workflow
Many organizations are implementing cloud-first architectures that must be secured. Key elements include network performance and cybersecurity in cloud environment to support remote work. As organizations place more of their IT architecture in the cloud, IT workers must learn newer skills to support the tasks.
CompTIA Security+ covers cloud skills in the following certification exam objectives:
| 1.2 |
Given a scenario, analyze potential indicators to determine the type of attack, including cloud-based vs. on-premises attacks. |
| 1.5 |
Explain different threat actors, vectors, and intelligence sources, including cloud vectors. |
| 1.6 |
Explain the security concerns associated with various types of vulnerabilities. This includes cloud-based vs. on-premises vulnerabilities. |
| 2.2 |
Summarize virtualization and cloud computing concepts, including cloud models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, etc.) and cloud service providers. |
| 2.4 |
Summarize authentication and authorization design concepts, including cloud vs. on-premises requirements. |
| 2.5 |
Given a scenario, implement cybersecurity resilience, including on-premises vs. cloud and backup types. |
| 3.6 |
Given a scenario, apply cybersecurity solutions to the cloud, including cloud security controls, virtual private cloud (VPC) endpoint, cloud solutions and cloud native controls vs. third party solutions. |
| 4.5 |
Explain the key aspects of digital forensics, including on-premises vs. the cloud. |
| 5.2 |
Explain the importance of applicable regulations, standards, or frameworks that impact organizational security posture, including key frameworks such as the cloud security alliance and cloud control matrix. |
Move to Zero Trust
Digital transformation is supported by zero trust which assumes nothing can be trusted on a network because the enemy is already on the network. Organizations cannot assume traffic that originates on their network is harmless.
Zero trust solutions include additional verification to ensure connections are secure. The NIST publication on zero trust architecture states that zero trust “is not a single architecture but a set of guiding principles for workflow, system design and operations.” (NIST Special Publication 800-207).
Zero trust architecture includes several common practices, as indicated in the CompTIA State of Cybersecurity 2021 report:
- Multifactor authentication reduces reliance on a single set of credentials
- Network analytics unearth malicious behavior that may not be apparent
- Microsegmentation provides granular control of traffic so that targeted security policies can be applied
There is no single best practice for zero trust. The solutions work together to provide better overall protection.
CompTIA Security+ covers these skills in the following certification exam objectives:| 3.3 |
Given a scenario, implement secure network designs, including network segmentation with zero trust. |
Rely on Security Metrics
Digital transformation solutions are better secured when organizations measure cybersecurity progress from a strategic perspective. For example, many businesses implement security operations centers (SOCs) to track and analyze cybersecurity breaches. These metrics are used to identify the incidents and communicate them across the organizations as needed. These metrics are used to proactively combat intrusions and to report cybersecurity progress as a function of governance, risk and compliance (GRC).
CompTIA Security+ covers these skills in the following certification exam objectives:
| 5.1 |
Compare and contrast various types of controls. |
| 5.2 |
Explain the importance of applicable regulations, standards, or frameworks that impact organization security posture. |
| 5.3 |
Explain the importance of policies to organization security. |
| 5.4 |
Summarize risk management processes and concepts. |
Improve Threat Understanding
Digital transformation is improved through better threat intelligence, which is a data-driven practice that provides more information about the attacks occurring on IT systems. Threat intelligence gathering is often a function of the SOC: It analyzes the types of attacks occurring across the organization. Most organizations still focus on traditional threats, but new variants must also be analyzed.
Threat intelligence requires data collection and must be processed similar to other business data flows. For example, the information should be organized into a scheme that filters out redundant or unneeded data. It can also include automation and data analysis techniques to provide insights, mitigation solutions and feedback loops.
CompTIA Security+ covers these skills in the following certification exam objectives:
| 1.1 |
Compare and contrast different types of social engineering techniques. |
| 1.2 |
Given a scenario, analyze potential indicators to determine the type of attack. |
| 1.3 |
Given a scenario, analyze potential indicators associated with application attacks. |
| 1.4 |
Given a scenario, analyze potential indicators associated with network attacks. |
| 1.5 |
Explain different threat actors, vectors, and intelligence sources. |
| 1.6 |
Explain the security concerns associated with various types of vulnerabilities. |
| 1.7 |
Summarize the techniques used in security assessments. |
| 1.8 |
Explain the techniques used in penetration testing. |
| 3.3 |
Given a scenario, implement secure network designs, including firewalls and Unified Threat Management (UTM). |
| 4.4 |
Given an incident, apply mitigation techniques or controls to secure an environment. |
| 5.4 |
Summarize risk management processes and concepts, including mitigation within risk management strategies. |
Supporting Digital Transformation with CompTIA Security+
Digital transformation efforts have moved slowly because it requires the transformation of an entire organizations. The solutions are more than a few IT tools. The transformation has a business culture impact and an architectural aspect. The newer tools bring added functions, but they must be integrated with other tools, and they must be supported by infrastructure, cybersecurity and the business itself.
CompTIA Security+ is the only baseline cybersecurity certification emphasizing hands-on practical skills, ensuring the security professional is better prepared to problem solve a wider variety of today’s complex issues.
CompTIA Security+ is aligned to the latest trends and techniques, covering the most core technical skills in:
- Risk assessment and management
- Incident response
- Forensics
- Enterprise networks
- Hybrid/cloud operations
- Security controls
While there are a range of exam prep tools, instructional videos, training boot camps and the like out there, CompTIA now offers a full suite of training solutions for Security+, including study guides, eLearning and online courses.
Here’s a quick overview of everything CompTIA offers to help you prepare for your certification exam:
- The Official CompTIA Security+ Study Guide, available in printed or eBook form
- CertMaster Learn for eLearning
- CertMaster Practice for test prep
- CompTIA Labs virtual lab environment
- CompTIA Live Online Training
Get started today with CompTIA Security+. Download the exam objectives or start learning with a free trial of CompTIA CertMaster Learn + Labs for Security+.
