Eliminating data security weaknesses: What is proactive asset protection?

With the attack surface of cyber security growing every day and hacking activity prominent in the minds of regular consumers, finding ways to shift asset protection to proactive methods is proving to be an important approach for modern companies.

And in today’s digital business climate, data trust is perhaps the most important part of the business, according to Drew Del Matto, CFO of Fortinet Inc. “I think it’s just core to value creation, because it’s as simple as if you think you’re putting information out there, and you think somebody’s going to get to it, then you may not put the information out there,” he said.

Del Matto recently sat down with Lisa Martin (@Luccazara) and Peter Burris (@plburris), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile live streaming studio, during Fortinet Accelerate 2017 in Las Vegas, to talk about data, its architecture, and building trust and value. (*Disclosure below.)

Once information is “out there,” people find all sorts of uses for it. With a special focus on healthcare, Del Matto discussed some of the ways in which data can find new life after its initial creation. “Many people aggregate data that they use and sell back to you in some way … and that’s a very valuable story,” he noted.

And with apps and developers, as well as end users, coming up with further usages for it, the value of data is hard to overstate. “I think of data as an asset,” Del Matto said. “I think that I want to have it. I want to know how to protect it.