Game of Threats
The Season 7 trailer of Game of Thrones came out today and fans were excited to see that’s going to be bloody war. While Thrones is a fantasy show its strength comes from being a metaphor for real world conflicts.
Thrones intertwines two main plotlines with dozens of sub-plots. The main plotline is driven by a battle to rule the Seven Kingdoms (we now have Cersi Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen fighting for the Iron Throne). The second plotline is the struggle of a lone character (Jon Snow) trying to protect everyone from the impending threat of the White Walkers breaking thru the perimeter that protects them.
Back here in the real world, corporate executives are busy planning their global market expansion and M&A strategies. Meanwhile cyber security experts are trying to warn anyone who listens that the perimeter that keeps cyber attackers out is crumbling.
Like Jon Snow and his small team at the Night’s Watch, cyber security teams are overworked and understaffed for the battle. They make Power Point presentations to the executive staff and board members but everyone is distracted with what’s going on in the White House and Kings Landing.
The solution for the Cersi and Daeneryes (I mean corporate America) is to put down their iPhones and look at the threats facing them. The Wall protecting them isn’t stopping the malware the White Walkers have developed. Moreover the alliances Cersi and Daeneryes have made with supply chain partners makes them vulnerable to inside attacks.
Corporate America needs to adopt a security model in which access thru the Wall is only granted to authenticated and authorized users. Access also needs to be provisioned at an application layer to ensure that malware cannot propagate within the perimeter.
Given all the bad blood, it’s unlikely that anyone in the Seven Kingdoms or corporate America will ever trust anyone else. But with a little planning we can keep the White Walkers out.
