In Partnership with Cisco Systems, Inc.
Digital threats pose major risks to nearly every company across all industries. Businesses can no longer afford to ignore cybersecurity, particularly as the costs associated with lost data, downtime and reputational damage continue to rise. Regulated sectors like finance and healthcare are under even more scrutiny when it comes to protecting sensitive data and ensuring optimal performance.
Rather than taking a reactive approach and waiting for disaster to strike, organizations should act now to ensure they are prepared. Setting up necessary tools and processes will give employees the resources they need to approach the situation appropriately. With all of the available options, it can be difficult to know where to start with your cybersecurity efforts. Let’s take a look at four of the main tools that you should implement in your cybersecurity strategy:
1. Endpoint protection
In traditional office setups, endpoints might include desktops, phones and the printer, all connected and active within your network. While these relics are still within many businesses, employees are increasingly using other hardware as well to get more done and improve their efficiency. Mobile devices like laptops, tablets and smartphones are now common fixtures in the workplace and can bring a number of benefits, provided they are protected appropriately.
Endpoint protection aims to cover this widening surface area of possible attack points within enterprises. Your Daily Tech contributor Daniel Morton noted that endpoint protection accounts for malware that doesn’t involve viruses, making it more capable of detecting diverse malware strains than traditional antivirus products. As this technology continues to advance, it will be able to monitor software in real time and pinpoint situations that are most likely to be the site of attack. This is a significant step over legacy solutions and will put your organization on the best footing to secure your hardware.
Endpoint protection will be essential to limiting the attack surface.2. Intrusion detection
Hackers leverage a number of common attack tools to breach business networks and compromise information. Understanding these tools as they evolve will be critical to stopping malicious parties in their tracks. Dark Reading associate editor Kelly Sheridan noted that intrusion detection strategies can create situations where attackers expose themselves as a result of their reliance on common hacking techniques. Active intrusion detection and prevention effectively looks for threats and stops them before they cause any damage.
Organizations cannot afford to be passive with their intrusion detection systems. If the solution identifies any intruders, it will send notifications for organizations to act upon. It will be important for IT professionals to respond quickly to any issue and close vulnerabilities.
“Monitoring and management systems drive proactive security models.”
3. Monitoring and management
Monitoring behavior and managing risk will be an important piece of your cybersecurity strategy, as they highlight unusual activity and deliver actionable insights. However, organizations cannot simply implement these tools and then forget about them. System monitoring and risk management are continuous efforts that must be supported. Tripwire contributor Theresa Wood noted that businesses can facilitate long-term compliance continuity and reduce annual audit overhead with these solutions. Monitoring and management systems drive proactive security models, providing truly immediate detection and response in the event of an attack. These types of capabilities will be absolutely essential to improving business cybersecurity.
4. Content filtering
A large number of security breaches occur due to employee actions. Clicking on a seemingly viable link or ad can end up downloading malicious programs onto workstations and compromising sensitive information. With this major vulnerability, organizations not only have to train staff members, but also implement content filtering tools. TechTarget contributor Margaret Rouse noted that content filtering screens and excludes objectionable web pages or emails from being accessed. This can include eliminating emails that contain malicious links or redirecting a user away from a risky site. This tool will give employers peace of mind that their workers are engaging in safe web surfing practices while limiting overall risk.
Cybersecurity is becoming more complex as technology and attacker techniques advance. Organizations can leverage content filtering, monitoring and management, endpoint protection and intrusion detection tools to step up their protection capabilities. Teaming up with a managed service provider like ISG will help alleviate the pressures and security concerns that come along with managing your own network. For more information on how ISG can implement the best solutions for your protection needs, schedule a free consultation today.
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