Experts Stress Importance of Investing in Cybersecurity Early in Development Cycle, Communication and AI-Driven Security Tools

Rackspace Technology^® (NASDAQ: RXT), a leading end-to-end, multicloud technology solutions company, hosted a Cloud Talk Live Cybersecurity Summit 2022 on October 25^th in San Antonio, Texas, in coordination with Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The conversations, broadcast globally, included CISOs and security executives from Rackspace, iHeartRadio, and Cloudflare, with over 500 audience members joining in person and live-streaming around the world.

The panel of expert security leaders included Jeff Deverter, Chief Technology Evangelist at Rackspace Technology; Janet Heins, Chief Information Security Office at iHeartMedia; Karen O’Reilly-Smith, Chief Security Officer at Rackspace Technology; Gary Alterson, Vice President of Security Services at Rackspace Technology; and Kenny Johnson, Product Manager at Cloudflare.

"We will continue to see organizations developing new security capabilities centered on AI and analytics,” said Gary Alterson, Vice President of Security Services at Rackspace Technology. “But even as technology has a critical role to play in advancing security, adversaries are leveraging many of the same technologies as they become increasingly sophisticated. It is up to us across the industry to continue to invest to stay a step ahead.”

As Rackspace continues to drive thought leadership and helps organizations strengthen their cybersecurity postures, key insights from the Cybersecurity Summit include:

• Communicating the value of security to the C-Suite/business leaders – For most organizations, security is not seen as a revenue driver but rather as an expense. Panelists agreed that is vital to emphasize the importance of continued investments in security to the C-Suite and other leaders.
• Don’t let a crisis go to waste – Take advantage of real-life security incidents to conduct red-teaming and tabletop exercises, which can lead to the development of best practices and improved processes and procedures.
• Shift security left in the development cycle – Today security professionals are working in an aftermarket world, usually being asked to secure applications after the fact. Organizations should focus on helping developers apply security processes into their practices and provide them with the right tools and guardrails to support development cycles.

To view a recording of Cloud Talk Live Cybersecurity Summit 2022, please click here. To download the Rackspace Technology 2022 Cybersecurity Annual Research Report click here.