Cybersecurity is about protecting organizations and their employees and assets from cyber threats. Cyberattacks are becoming more common and sophisticated, and corporate networks are growing more complex. To mitigate corporate cyber risk, a variety of cybersecurity solutions are required.
Cybersecurity covers several disciplines and can be divided into seven main pillars:
- Network Security: Most attacks occur over the network, and network security solutions are designed to identify and block these attacks. These solutions include data and access controls such as Data Loss Prevention (DLP), Identity Access Management (IAM), Network Access Control (NAC), and Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) application controls to enforce safe web use policies.
- Cloud Security: As organizations increasingly adopt cloud computing, securing the cloud becomes a major priority. A cloud security strategy includes cybersecurity solutions, controls, policies, and services that help to protect an organization’s entire cloud deployment (applications, data, infrastructure, etc.) against attack.
- Endpoint Security: Companies can secure end-user devices such as desktops and laptops with data and network security controls, advanced threat prevention such as anti-phishing and anti-ransomware, and technologies that provide forensics such as endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions.
- Mobile Security: Mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones have access to corporate data, exposing businesses to threats from malicious apps, zero-day, phishing, and Instant Messaging (IM) attacks. Mobile security prevents these attacks and secures the operating systems and devices from rooting and jailbreaking.
- IoT Security: While using Internet of Things (IoT) devices delivers productivity benefits, it also exposes organizations to new cyber threats. IoT security protects these devices with discovery and classification of the connected devices, auto-segmentation to control network activities, and using Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) as a virtual patch to prevent exploits against vulnerable IoT devices.
- Application Security: Web applications are targets for threat actors, and application security prevents bot attacks and stops any malicious interaction with applications and APIs. With continuous learning, apps will remain protected even as DevOps releases new content.
- Zero Trust: The traditional security model is perimeter-focused, building walls around an organization’s valuable assets like a castle. However, this approach has several issues, such as the potential for insider threats and the rapid dissolution of the network perimeter. Zero trust takes a more granular approach to security, protecting individual resources through a combination of micro-segmentation, monitoring, and enforcement of role-based access controls.
The cyber threats of today are not the same as even a few years ago. As the cyber threat landscape changes, organizations need protection against cybercriminals’ current and future tools and techniques.
Recently, there has been a surge in supply chain attacks that demonstrate the limitations of traditional security approaches. Cybercriminals are exploiting weaknesses in third-party software and hardware, which can have devastating effects on organizations. To protect against these and other modern cyber threats, organizations need to adopt advanced threat prevention solutions and continuously evaluate and update their cybersecurity strategies.
