A better path forward for cybersecurity Why is it that cybersecurity is struggling to keep pace with the rapidly evolving threat landscape? We spend more and more, tighten our perimeters, and still there are trillions of dollars being lost to cybercrime and cyber attacks. Setting aside the direct costs to individuals and businesses, and the indirect costs we all experience such as a lack of trust in our banks and other institutions”Š”, “Šwhat about the role of these trillions of dollars in growing an ever-more sophisticated criminal economy? With that as context, I’ve been thinking a lot about whether there is something that we need to do in cybersecurity to shift the way we build, deliver, and consume solutions. Yes, at DeepTempo we see a world in which an ever-improving Collective Defense is possible thanks to the emergence of Foundation LogLMs. But is using AI to sure up the shaky foundations of cybersecurity enough? What if the security industry itself is structured in such a way that it hampers the innovations we need?
Why Cybersecurity Must Shift Towards Horizontal Competition
Introduction
The cybersecurity industry is dominated by vertically integrated giants. In 2024, Palo Alto Networks emphasized their role as a platform provider in their conversations with investors and the market”Š”, “Š”platformization” it calls the strategy. Platform firms attempt to deliver everything”Š”, “Šfrom log collection to threat detection”Š”, “Šlocking customers into rigid ecosystems. While such an approach makes sense for Palo Alto as it attempts to diversify away from its fading firewall products”Š”, “Šis “platformization” best for the future of the cybersecurity industry? A shift toward horizontal competition, where specialized players excel within layers of the stack and are able to grow into large and valuable firms without being subsumed into the platform companies, offers hope.
Why Horizontal Competition IS Emerging
There are signs of a more horizontal structure emerging in cyber security. Here are a few drivers powering this transition: Cloud Services Data Layers Cloud platforms like AWS, Azure and GCP have transformed the technology industry. And Snowflake, built upon these infrastructure cloud providers, has delivered an easy-to-use and massively scalable datalake. Enterprises now see previously daunting capabilities like pulling data into a central location and transforming it for their use as readily available. And they’ve invested in enterprise data layers”Š”, “Šand are looking for additional use cases, such as cyber security, to drive the ROI on these investments. Cloud Services and Cloud Native Architectures Maybe even more importantly, the rise of cloud services led to cloud-native architectures. We now have a generation of architects who expect to be able to compose loosely coupled components into a preferred overall solution. They understand how to build environments that assume failure is inevitable”Š”, “Šand as a result are extremely resilient. What they must think when they see the tightly coupled, brittle architectures of security today! LLM based UX LLMs like ChatGPT are rewriting the rulebook for how we interact with complex systems. Need to query logs or explore anomalies? You don’t need a PhD in cybersecurity”Š”, “Šnatural language UX bridges the gap. As these tools improve, the grip of vertically integrated SaaS providers loosens. This is a much broader phenomenon than security; some investors have suggested that all verticalized SaaS is vulnerable. Cost Savings Through Shared Data Platforms Enterprises today demand efficiency. Why store duplicate data for cybersecurity when platforms like Snowflake can do double duty for analytics and fraud detection? This shared infrastructure, optimized for multiple use cases, encourages specialization while cutting costs. The DevOps ethos of team autonomy A central tenant of the DevOps ethos is that tools should not be forced upon a team; teams need the autonomy to select their operating environment. After all, they live with the results. By contrast, in many traditional sectors, including much of security, solutions are often sold top-down with less input from the operators. The Status Quo’s Inadequacy Against Rising Threats
The bad guys are getting smarter”Š”, “ŠAI is helping them move faster, hit harder, and hide better. Stagnant, vertically integrated systems can’t keep up. Horizontal approaches encourage adaptability, diversity, and innovation, which we desperately need to outpace attackers.
Why Horizontal Competition Should Be Embraced
A market in which better approaches have a great shot at achieving scale”Š”, “Šand they need not bet upon a particular platform to get to market”Š”, “Šis a more enjoyable market. And a more innovative one. Here are a few specific reasons that I am motivated by helping to bring more openness, and horizontal competition, to cyber security: We are in Crisis
Cybersecurity isn’t just about protecting companies”Š”, “Šit’s about safeguarding society. A breach in one firm can cascade into a crisis for thousands. Horizontal competition fosters innovation and ensures that cutting-edge defenses are broadly accessible. And we must try something new”Š”, “Šthe old ways of doing business in cybersecurity are not working. Lock-in is Bad”Š”, “Šand Private Equity is Coming for Your Budget
The history of technology includes technology companies forming closer and closer ties to their customers”Š”, “Šand then slowing down their innovation and becoming cash cows, often purchased by private equity and intent on extracting as much as possible from their users. Broadcom, of course, behaves this way; however, we can also see more than a dozen purchases of cybersecurity assets by Private Equity in the last years. Encouraging a Resilient Ecosystem
Homogeneity breeds vulnerability. A world reliant on just a few vertically integrated providers creates single points of failure attackers can exploit. Horizontal competition spreads the load, promoting a resilient, diverse ecosystem that’s harder to compromise.
The Path Forward
There is much to do if we want to shift cybersecurity towards one in which best-of-class horizontal solutions succeed. Here are a few specific recommendations: Recommendations for Clouds and Stakeholders
The cybersecurity market is enormous”Š”, “Šalready well more than $200bn per year. Clouds and platforms like Snowflake have a central role to play in transforming cybersecurity. My recommendation to them is essentially”Š”, “ŠAmp It Up! You understand the sheer size and criticality of data in cyber security. Also”Š”, “ŠSnowflake’s ability to run NativeApps is hugely differentiating. Snowflake’s capabilities include enabling security teams to very quickly try or POC interesting technologies, further reducing the opportunity of legacy security to keep up. Vision for the Future
Imagine a cybersecurity industry in which we all learn from each other”Š”, “Šwhat is normal, and what is problematic, and share that intelligence via adaptive deep learning base systems as opposed to outdated signatures. Such an industry will return the initiative to the defenders. We have the opportunity to play an important part in saving trillions of dollars of losses and improving trust in our institutions.
Conclusion
The move toward horizontal competition isn’t inevitable”Š”, “Šhowever, it seems like the only path forward. As attackers grow bolder and tools like AI raises the stakes, the status quo simply won’t cut it. By embracing openness, collaboration, and innovation, we can create a cybersecurity industry that protects not just companies but the world itself.
Platforms are the Problem was originally published in DeepTempo on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
First seen on securityboulevard.com
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