Brendan Kotze is MD of Performanta Services.

Machiavelli wrote 500 years ago in The Prince: “There is no more delicate matter to take in hand, nor more dangerous to conduct, nor more doubtful in its success, than to be a leader in the introduction of changes. For he who innovates will have for enemies all those who are well off under the old order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new.”

We are slaves to the hopes of reaching our own tech-fuelled utopia. Our collective demand has become so intense, that we develop separation anxiety at the very thought of not having the “new” iPad; we are so dependent on the promised value and feature-full upgrade of the “next big thing in tech” that we tend to measure perceived reward versus perceived cost by version number alone, while blatantly ignoring the fundamental basics of information security. We trust technology, and therein lies our market’s downfall.

Being the MD of an IT security services company, it is surprising and somewhat disappointing walking into one company after the next, seeing endless product suites not being utilised to their full potential, resulting in a huge lack of ROI, visibility and security effectiveness as a whole.

There is a growing trend in the market today of ignoring previous investments in security controls if presented with new, “better” technology when there is no evidence that the existing solution is incapable, given the correct technical and managerial support. Organisations are scampering to reduce audit findings as a “check in the box”, by purchasing new technologies as a silver bullet, without addressing people and processes first, without ensuring the tech is fit for purpose, running “let’s see if it does what is says on the tin” POCs (proof of concepts) not aligned to business requirements, but most disturbing of all, not implementing accepted metrics to measure against once implemented.

Reinventing IT security and changing technologies means nothing if you can’t get the basics right, for as much as you can’t walk on water without getting out of the boat.

Come visit our stands at the ITWeb Security Summit to find out who and what you can trust, and more importantly, how to extract sustainable value from technology by injecting a fresh approach on budgets.