Bridging the gap between boardroom SOC demands [Q&A]

It’s inevitable that different parts of the enterprise will pull in different directions. This is particularly true when it comes to the IT world where operational teams like the SOC tend to focus on operational resilience while management and the boardroom worry about compliance.

We talked to Kyle Wickert, field chief technology officer of AlgoSec, about how IT pros can balance the compliance demands of the C-suite while maintaining security across sprawling hybrid environments.

BN: What are the biggest hurdles IT pros face when trying to satisfy both the C-suite's compliance requirements and the need for robust security?

KW: IT professionals are balancing increased regulatory compliance pressure from the C-suite and protecting an incredibly sprawling hybrid network. This balance requires full network visibility despite fragmentation, which can't be put on the back burner for audits. Without visibility into how applications, users and policies interact, effectively enforcing controls and demonstrating compliance becomes nearly impossible. Total visibility is what bridges the gap between regulatory demands and strong security.

Another challenge lies in a difference of priorities. The C-suite often favors speed as the most important factor in application development, neglecting to address security as a top priority and creating a dangerous trade-off. The challenge lies in integrating security into the application development and deployment pipeline, without slowing things down. This is where secure automation is key. With proper implementation, automation can streamline processes while increasing productivity and accuracy, helping teams maintain security while remaining compliant.

BN: How can IT leaders effectively communicate the inherent trade-offs and dependencies between stringent compliance, strong security, and operational efficiency?

KW: The reality is, increasing regulatory complexity and evolving mandates are the new norm, and many security leaders are feeling the strain. But even in today’s unpredictable landscape, it is possible to strike a balance between stringent compliance, strong security and operational efficiency.

Breaking down challenges into actionable tasks is the first step in this process. For example, teams can begin by mapping out networks to enhance visibility across teams. From there, it becomes easier to achieve policy centralization, segmentation and process improvements in alignment with business priorities. These incremental changes add up over time, leading to a structured, robust cybersecurity strategy that meets operational demands and maintains compliance.

As organizations continue to expand across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, they’re facing increasing complexity -- not just in infrastructure, but in risk ownership. Compliance and security are no longer confined to one team; they require cross-functional coordination and continuous visibility into external exposure and internal dependencies.

A strategy that aligns compliance objectives with operational goals: audit readiness built into daily workflows, proactive policy enforcement and improved velocity DevOps is critical. Rather than choosing between speed, security or compliance -- optimize all three in concert.

One specific example is risk prioritization. Risk prioritization must go beyond CVE scores. Organizations should consider incorporating real-world threat intelligence & asset discovery into remediation efforts, enabling focus resources and applications actively being targeted -- maximizing both security impact and efficiency.

BN: Is there a role for automation to enhance both the efficiency of network management and the consistency of policy enforcement for compliance?

KW: Absolutely. As organizations shift to hybrid networks, automation is essential in managing connectivity at scale. One area where automation is especially impactful is change management. Manual change processes often result in inconsistent updates, integration issues and misconfigurations, all of which can introduce security and compliance risks. By automating change management, organizations gain better visibility into network device configurations to minimize security gaps.

Gartner predicts that by 2026, 30 percent of enterprises will automate more than half of their network activities, up from just 10 percent in 2023. This growth reflects the tangible benefits, from increasing network efficiency to improving scalability and shifting the focus of IT teams from tedious, repetitive tasks to more strategic efforts. Automation also helps ensure consistency, which is critical for enforcing security policies and maintaining compliance across dynamic environments.

BN: Why is comprehensive application discovery and connectivity mapping so critical for both security and compliance in hybrid environments? What blind spots can it help eliminate?

KW: Across today’s complex hybrid environments, visibility is no longer a nice-to-have, but a need-to-have. Comprehensive application discovery and connectivity mapping provide essential visibility, enabling IT teams to identify how applications interact and where vulnerabilities exist.

When organizations lack visibility, they’re more likely to overlook misconfigurations, shadow applications or unnecessary connections that introduce risk. In fact, over 85 percent of IT leaders report increased stress due to unknown or unmonitored cloud and SaaS products in use. Mapping out networks and understanding application dependencies eliminates blind spots by establishing a clear hierarchy of what matters most. This prioritization fosters alignment between compliance mandates, security goals and operational needs.

This clarity becomes even more important as regulations shift and government support fluctuates, as seen with the CISA budget cuts. While agencies like CISA remain valuable threat intelligence sources, security teams must take ownership of their internal resilience. Application discovery and mapping allows teams to proactively test and strengthen their internal policies, ensuring resilience amid uncertainty.

BN: How can streamlining firewall rule certification through an app-centric approach help to align security and business needs?

KW: Traditional firewall rule certification is handled rule by rule – a manual, time-consuming, error-prone process that often lacks business context. Across today’s complex hybrid environments, visibility is no longer a nice-to-have, but a need-to-have. Comprehensive application discovery and connectivity mapping provide essential visibility, enabling IT teams to identify how applications interact and where vulnerabilities exist.

This visibility also enables a smarter approach to firewall rule certification. Traditional reviews are manual and disconnected from application context, leading to bloated, outdated policies. An application-centric model changes that by linking firewall rules directly to known applications and owners. This allows teams to certify or remove rules based on lifecycle events like app decommissioning or migration, reducing risk and simplifying compliance.

By aligning policies to the applications they support, organizations can improve segmentation, streamline reviews, and generate audit-ready documentation -- all without sacrificing agility in dynamic environments.

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