What Is Cybersecurity?
The New Business Imperative
The term cybersecurity encompasses all policies, practices, and technologies needed to secure a network and everything it supports. It defends an organization against cyberattacks and their costly consequences—work disruptions, data breaches, financial loss (theft or extortion), and perhaps the worst result of all—loss of trust and a permanently damaged reputation.
Nearly all enterprises do business online today, which means cyber network security has become as essential a function as human resources or accounting.
Cybercrime is Only Getting Worse
Cybercriminals around the world are constantly getting better at their jobs—becoming shrewder and more sophisticated. They’re misusing advanced technologies such as AI to stealthily probe networks, pinpoint vulnerabilities, and target an organization’s most valuable data assets.
Cyberattacks Are on the Rise
The upheaval of 2020 created more opportunities than ever for global cybercriminals. IT teams scrambled to adapt their networks to a suddenly scattered workforce—expanding decentralized cloud infrastructures to support users’ at-home workspaces—reliant upon laptops, smartphones, and other remote devices. All these broad, on-the-fly changes, including multiple endpoints with inconsistent protection, would present a myriad of new vulnerabilities and enticing targets for international criminal organizations and rogue hackers alike.
Cyberattacks Up 600% During COVID-19 Pandemic
Even as we finally begin turning the corner on the pandemic, worldwide cybercrime statistics continue to rise.
What is Your Organization’s Cybersecurity Posture?
The starting point for crafting and implementing a cybersecurity posture is conducting a comprehensive vulnerability assessment of network infrastructure. This holistic, end-to-end evaluation focuses on multiple key areas or pillars:
Cybersecurity Considerations
The organization’s unique security requirements, such as access controls, firewalls/endpoint security, and any possible impacts of cybercrime.
Ongoing Vulnerability Assessments
Regular “snapshots” of the network and its vulnerabilities—where/how they occur, potential damages from cyberattacks, and remediation priorities.
Layered Security
A “stack” of dedicated security technologies which interact to form a 24/7, 360-degree bulwark to defend the network against various cyberthreats.
Cybersecurity Incident Response
Creation and review of a formal CSIRP (Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan)—the organization’s official “playbooks” for responding to impending cyberattacks or data breaches
Security Operations Center (SOC)
Establishing or strengthening the team and tools necessary to detect, contain, and quickly remediate any cyberattack.
The organization’s unique security requirements, such as access controls, firewalls/endpoint security, and any possible impacts of cybercrime.
Regular “snapshots” of the network and its vulnerabilities—where/how they occur, potential damages from cyberattacks, and remediation priorities.
A “stack” of dedicated security technologies which interact to form a 24/7, 360-degree bulwark to defend the network against various cyberthreats.
Creation and review of a formal CSIRP (Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan)—the organization’s official “playbooks” for responding to impending cyberattacks or data breaches
Establishing or strengthening the team and tools necessary to detect, contain, and quickly remediate any cyberattack.
Cybersecurity Services
With clearly so much at stake, C-suite leadership and IT administrators are looking beyond an isolated do-it-yourself approach, searching for any additional advantage against the relentless onslaught of cyberthreats. Many have successfully partnered with an independent cybersecurity provider. A top-tier cybersecurity provider will be familiar with leading-edge technical strategies, such as:
EDR
A platform focused on dedicated cybersecurity for endpoints—identifying and remediating cyberthreats on laptops, desktops, and mobile phones.
View EDRNDR
A cybersecurity service that monitors network traffic for threats and suspicious behavior.
View NDRMDR
A service that overlays the network and provides cybersecurity intrusion detection. MDR uses various sensors and other tools to collect data that may indicate a threat or attack.
View MDR
