The Perimeter Is Dead

For the past 30-plus years, the overarching plan to secure networks and digital infrastructure was one that was predicated on the concept of perimeter-based security. Most organizations across the globe subscribed to the concept and plan that if the walls were high enough and the outward boundaries of the network were hard enough, then the enemy would not be able to "get in." Entire global architectures have been built and deployed to leverage that concept and billions of dollars have been spent to engage in "defense in depth" and the "castle and moat" methodology of security. It has all been for naught.

The perimeter-based model of security has categorically failed to keep pace with the evolution of the internet, the proliferation of devices and accesses, and the explosion of cloud computing and an increasingly mobile and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) workforce. There is no perimeter anymore. The moment a user can...