Dealing with the Changing Security Paradigm
Businesses all around the globe are suffering massive data breaches affecting their operations and customer loyalty. The cyber threat landscape continues to grow and evolve with many factors contributing.
It is evident more than ever that fully secure, trusted networks no longer exist. But why is enterprise security in such chaos? Security Perimeter thinking is a major contributor.. Perimeter security is insufficient, and Identity is, in fact, the new perimeter. The guiding principal of an effective security strategy is to “Assume Breach”, and contain the threat rather than prevent it.
Good Security Practices are only a start
With cybercriminals constantly inventing new techniques and looking for new vulnerabilities, an optimized security network is only optimized for so long. Some basic security practices to put into place include:
- Patch Application and OS Vulnerabilities quickly and regularly
- Use Application whitelisting on endpoints and servers
- Restrict and protect Administrative privileges based on specific roles and duties
- Updated Anti-Virus/Anti Malware scanning and consider User and Entity Behavioral Analytics (UEBA)
Expanding the Security Strategy
Beyond good security practices, a sound security strategy should include the following
Journey to Secure Your Environment |
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| Disrupt the known attacker playbook and raise attacker costs. Take steps to protect well-known entry points to your environment | Protect Privileged Identities and detect misuse though auditing and UEBA. Privileged Identities are your guarded assets and guard your organization’s crown jewels. | Adopt the assume breach mindset and focus on containing attackers in the workstation tier before they get access to sensitive data or accounts. | Focus on recovery for when defenses fail. Store backups that are inaccessible to attackers and your own administrative accounts (offline backups). | Create a detailed Security Incident Response Plan detailing Who takes What Action When and How. During a crisis is not the time to create your plan. |
The Continuous Voyage
Security leaders need to attack the evolving security landscape through proactive planning and change management. To be effective in today’s dynamic and growing threat climate security needs to be multi-dimensional and ongoing.
Listen Now to the Accelerate PodCast – special Security episodes on “Compliance and Risk” and “Security and Culture”.
Read more in this e-book “7 Ways to Improve your Security Posture”
Andre Labelle
Technical Account Manager, National Cyber Champs Lead
Jon Shectman
Sr. Premier Field Engineer, Security and SLAM Lead
