The digital dimension in which companies operate today requires greater attention to IT security both due to the criticality of data in the business and the continuous evolution of threats. The security of data and systems is the prerequisite for business continuity, maintaining customer confidence in brands and products, and avoiding incurring heavy legal penalties in the event of data protection violations (GDPR ).
Anyone who threatens the security of data and IT infrastructures does not do it for fun as in the past but is part of organized criminal groups with large means at their disposal and operates for economic, political, or terrorist purposes. Groups capable of carrying out targeted attacks on infrastructures – networks, servers, clients, mobile devices, IoT, social and messaging platforms – putting all connected services at risk. In the S IT 2022 Report, 1,670 severe attacks were recorded in the last year, accompanied by significant economic and image losses for the affected realities.
Attacks that result in growth compared to the previous survey and in all sectors monitored: Security Industry (up from the previous report of +325%), Online Services/Cloud” (+91.5%), Telco” (+54.5%), GDO/ Retail (+28.2%), Healthcare (+17.0%) and Others (+76.7%).
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Five steps to strengthen data protection and security
A good plan to strengthen data security is achieved by addressing five key interrelated aspects. The first is the identification of the assets to be protected and, therefore, of the threats to which they may be subjected. The second aspect concerns the implementation of the most effective protection measures to prevent attacks, bearing in mind that those must accompany the technological measures on networks and software vulnerabilities on people and processes to avoid ingenuity and incorrect behavior from endangering the security of data.
Data security: analyze the problems and identify the answer
As system integrators and cybersecurity consultants, we analyze the state of data security of the client company and then identify the best answers for each specific need, engaging ourselves in the integration between the various components that contribute to the defense of endpoints, networks, and systems. Since the attacker can be able to cross the best defenses, it is important (third aspect) to have the ability to detect adverse events and, therefore (fourth aspect) to have countermeasures ready to limit the damage as much as possible. Finally (fifth element), it is necessary to prepare the resources to resume normal operations as quickly as possible.
Data security starts with defending networks and systems.
One of the points of attack on data security is networking, which today extends outside the organization to connect collaborators who work on the move, smart working employees ( a mode that exploded with the coronavirus emergency), partners, and clients. Network security is also vital to be able to take advantage of IT services distributed and delivered in the cloud.
Data security: what it means to protect the network
Protecting the network means securing a larger corporate perimeter, including LANs, data centers, and peripheral office systems, considering the limitations of traditional firewalls and software in new application contexts. We deem fundamental an approach that starts from the analysis of the risk levels for the company, intending to achieve the best level of mitigation based on the methods of use of the IT infrastructures in the data center, the connections of remote users, the use of cloud solutions and software-as-a-service.
Data security in endpoints and email
Another typical attack front for hackers and cybercriminals are represented by endpoints, the entry point for malware, and other threats capable of compromising data security. In addition to stopping malware and exploits, ransomware must be able to identify the characteristic signals of an attack and therefore integrate with other network and cloud security systems. A good endpoint security solution protects the device even when it is not connected to the corporate network, limiting extra consumption of resources as much as possible.
Artificial intelligence for data security
Machine learning and artificial intelligence (ML/AI) capabilities are important today to quickly detect and respond to the most sophisticated attacks, alerting support teams with the most useful synthesis data. To this end, we have identified the best protection solutions based on a single agent and a powerful Endpoint Detection & Response (EDR) engine with integrated ML/AI capabilities that allow you to respond to both known and unknown forms of attack automatically.
Another entry point for attacks on the security of company data and systems is represented by email, through the methods of spear phishing, ransomware, and email impersonation(identity substitution) to compromise defenses from within, bypassing the action of firewalls and other traditional protection systems based on signatures or blocklists. For this reason, we have chosen email protection solutions integrated with Microsoft 365 applications (Office 365) which, in addition to anti-spam and filtering capabilities, use ML/AI technologies to strengthen data security.
Also Read : Why Use Data Encryption? The Practical Reasons
