Traditional network protection outdated, says Jericho Forum

Organisations must rethink how they secure their IT systems or face massive security breaches, experts have warned.

IT user group the Jericho Forum – which consists of 50 multinationals including BP, HSBC and Rolls-Royce – says the growth of web services, electronic supply chains and remote working is rendering traditional network security useless.

‘As organisations, our borders are becoming more porous,’ said Paul Simmonds, Jericho Forum member and global information security director at ICI. ‘Most firms have joint ventures, supply chains and umpteen different firms managing their systems. Hackers are building exploits to target email and the internet.’

Nick Bleech, IT security director at Rolls-Royce, says users need to force vendors to design products that protect businesses reliant on the internet.

‘Many companies have a hard shell but a soft inside, but this needs to evolve. How are we going to make the vendors think differently?’ he said.

White papers released by the Jericho Forum last week advise on issues such as identity management, trust, data protection and security architectures.

But Dan Blum, senior vice president at analyst Burton Group, says organisations must create a layered approach to network security, and keep trading systems, customer databases and industrial control systems behind the network wall.

While the Jericho Forum is pushing to protect devices and encrypt data so the internet can be used more safely, certain systems must still be kept behind network defences, he says.

But Rolls-Royce’s Bleech says firms must consider how IT will be used in five to 10 years’ time and build systems accordingly.

‘The existing security models are creaking under the strain,’ he said.