$1.$ Describe the importance of security architecture and strategy.

As you learned in the lecture, the cybersecurity strategy of any organization must transform their security programs to align with their business and overall technology plans to be lasting and effective. Furthermore, a practical security strategy needs a risk$-$based approach that considers their people, processes, and technologies.

Additionally, taking a proactive approach is always superior to a reactive one regarding cybersecurity strategy. One advantage of taking a proactive approach to developing a security strategy is that it provides a stable structure and guidance that help you stay on track to implement your plan and avoid getting distracted. However, being proactive is easier said than done when faced with today's evolving and sophisticated threats that are identified at an alarming rate. Therefore, it is not surprising that, unfortunately, most organizations are reactive in their security strategy.

A $2019$ Ponemon study that surveyed $577$ US IT and IT security practitioners provides the numbers to underscore the challenges toward being proactive:

$69\%$ of respondents admitted their organization's approach to security is reactive and incident$-$driven.

$.\mathrm{.}56\%$ of respondents expressed concern that their IT security infrastructure contained coverage gaps, allowing attackers to get around network defenses.

$40\%$ of respondents said they do not track or measure their organization's IT security posture.

$($Businesswire$,$ n$.$d$.)$

Organizations looking to develop a reliable security strategy have several frameworks at their disposal. One such framework is the NIST Cybersecurity Framework $($NIST CSF$),$ which is a blueprint that outlines specific actions that organizations can take to develop their strategy.

For this assignment, reflect and further research what you have learned about security strategy and architecture and answer the following questions:

Why are security strategy and architecture an essential component of any security program?

What is the relationship between the security strategy, architecture, and offensive security?

How can organizations use NIST CSF to develop a security strategy? How does it help with being proactive in strategy development?

What role does security development operations $($SecDevOps$)$ play in designing and implementing an effective security strategy?