Don’t Let Your Systems Sink: How to Lean into Modular, Solutions to Improve Your Cybersecurity
On April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic famously sank following a collision with an iceberg in the North Atlantic Ocean. With historical hindsight, we know that multiple design changes and actions might have saved more lives or prevented the ocean liner from sinking altogether, including improving the design of the bulkheads in the ship.
The bulkheads in the interior of the ship didn’t reach all the way to the ceiling, allowing water to remain uncontained and spill over each bulkhead into the next compartment. Those striving to future-proof cybersecurity measures can learn from the Titanic’s most infamous design flaw.
In the hardware and software security solutions produced by Riverside Research and its recent acquisition, Cog Systems, the bulkhead equivalents reach all the way to the top of the “ship,” ensuring each security measure fully contains the exploit that is trying to spill over into the adjacent bulkhead. If one compartment becomes unusable for any reason, it’s already sealed off and contained – as the bulkheads of the Titanic were meant to do.
While seafaring vessels of the past such as the Titanic missed the mark in modularity, more modern structures are designed with this methodology in mind, including the International Space Station, which has been in orbit since 1998.
“With a fully modular system, you can embrace your inner Adm. Farragut and bark out to your crew: ‘Damn the torpedoes! Full Speed Ahead’ – with the associated confidence that you have built a highly resilient system,” said Carl Nerup, Vice President of Business Development at Riverside Research and former CEO of Cog Systems. “Modularity as the foundation of your security approach is critical to any defense in depth solution.”
In the White Star Line’s hubris, they marketed the Titanic as “unsinkable” because the luxury liner was unlike any ship that had sailed before. This idea of newness also fascinated news reporters, and the public bought into the idea that something so large and impressive was without flaws.
As in ship design, we cannot make the mistake of thinking our modular approach is “absolutely” secure. It is a foundation that allows for rapid response, remediation, and repair. The modular approach enables one to keep pace as technology also becomes quickly outmoded, enabling the ability to identify modules that are compromised, damaged, or simply require an upgrade due to design or technological changes – this is where the foresight of modular design makes for a better system.
If you’re ready to implement reliable technology at the speed of relevancy, Riverside Research, with the integrated Cog Systems solutions, is ready to assist. Contact us for more information.