By Rajarshi Bhattacharyya, Chairman and Managing Director, ProcessIT Global
Navigating the new threat landscape that is constantly evolving is certainly both a challenge and an opportunity for organisations to prepare and address the growing cyber-attacks and mitigate risks. Introduction and increase in remote working culture, with the onset of the pandemic, has necessitated unplanned cloud migration, driving the need for establishing a robust cyber security strategy.
Remote workforce attacks on the rise
With business continuity taking priority, organisations focused on remote working model and overlooked the security aspect. The transition exposed vulnerabilities across the organisation’s IT and network infrastructures. Work from home (WFH) culture disrupted the earlier security perimeter of the physical workplace with every employee now becoming the new security perimeter. Cyber-attackers have shifted their focus to attacking devices of remotely working employees, where security measures are not strong. Security professionals have to reassess the current infrastructure by revisiting WFH infrastructure for security compromises, before deploying the remote cyber-security strategy.
Increase in Ransomware attacks
These are malicious software attacks to prevent individuals from using their own computer systems. Ransomware attacks that increased in the recent past led to data and financial losses in addition to hurting the corporate brand image. These extortion attacks are meant to steal critical business data and encrypt it until the ransom amount, demanded by the cyber-criminals is paid. Security teams have to take the Zero Trust Network Access approach to address such attacks.
Cloud Computing vulnerabilities need immediate attention
There is an increase in the adoption of cloud services across organisations of all sizes, due to its several advantages, such as, better operational efficiency and reduction in IT costs. However, these cloud computing services leveraged by both on-site and remote workforce are prone to attacks, both from both malicious insiders and external cyber criminals. Abuse of cloud services, denial of services and cloud malware injection attacks are few of the common types. Data threats and Cloud API vulnerabilities are causing security concerns and cyber-security strategies have to address this as well.
Demand for Cyber security professionals grows further
Cyber threat Management includes a robust plan to identify vulnerabilities and put response measures to address them. With organisations shifting the focus on improving cyber threat management to keep their IT infrastructure secure, the demand for cyber-security professionals is high. Along with hiring experienced talent in the space, it is equally important for organisations to provide on-going training for existing employees. Furthermore, Security teams should continuously upgrade themselves as well, in addition to improving processes and reporting procedures.
Growing importance of Identity Access Management (IAM) services
Protecting access to Corporate Resources is critical from the viewpoints of businesses, customers and regulatory compliances. With IAM solutions, the cyber-security teams can gain granular access control of business data and applications on both on-premise and cloud. Automating the management of user identities and related access permissions can be established by leveraging IAM technologies. This process reduces the risk of both internal and external data breaches and should be an integral part of the cyber-security plan. The framework should facilitate only authorised users to access specific digital resources. Today, with the additional requirement to protect remote working employees, IAM solutions play a key role and provide the much required competitive edge.
User and Entity Behaviour Analysis (UEBA) solutions are in demand
Behaviour analysis of users on Corporate Networks and entities such as routers, servers and endpoints are done with UEBA solutions, to detect any sign of cyber-attack. UEBA tools complement security monitoring solutions by identifying and addressing abnormal or unusual behaviour. This service helps in identifying insider threats where users or entities within the Corporate Network attempt to stealthily gain access to networks and systems to steal data. Complex attacks that are growing in number can be detected across the IT and Network infrastructures, multiple users and IP addresses, thereby, quickly alerting security teams on the associated risks.
Data Security is key to cyber security strategy
A framework of practices and processes configured to protect the IT ecosystem, including databases, files, networks and applications constitute Data Security. It mitigates risks associated with data storage and management, by keeping threat actors at bay. Some of the types of Data Security include, backups and recovery, data encryption and access controls among others and should be put in place as part of the cyber security plan. Data Security prevents data breaches and supports in meeting the regulatory compliance as well.
Going forward, as threats and trends continue to evolve, IT security teams will have to work towards developing new strategies and leverage new technologies and tools, to mitigate security risks.
