Saturday, 31 October 2015 Blog ehdf

First Line of Defense to Repel Cyber Threats

Data networks in any IT environment are vulnerable to a range of threats such as malware, viruses, bots and botnets.

Enterprises are also prey to Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), a set of dangerous computer hacking procedures carried out by external parties to disable any IT topography. These are designed to cripple an enterprise from within by exploiting, utilizing or encrypting mission-critical data banks.

In order to guard your organization from such persistent, sophisticated threats and defend your IT borders, it is important that you implement layers of various security measures.

Let us look at two methods that create a robust line of defense in the face of such attacks:

1.Visibility control

– Your organization must implement this strategy to maximize security monitoring and analyze potential incoming IT threats.

– Secure your endpoints with the use of Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools, which provide visibility to incoming and outgoing traffic, blocking malicious threats and viruses and protecting internal, cloud-based data storehouses.

– A shared account management system should maintain encrypted passwords, provide regular system updates and effectively organize file accessibility.

-If your enterprise’s managed hosting provider offers multi-tenant and scalable cloud solutions, it should be effective in scanning and monitoring data using advanced analytics before or during an attack.

2.Legal and administrative measures

– Intellectual Property documentation – IP documentation can be a helpful measure against malware, since your data is protected and perpetrators can be sued or fined for exploitation and theft.

– Service Level Agreements (SLAs) – It is important to demand a proactive, customized Service Level Agreement from your hosting services provider. A solid and well defined SLA could include assessment of staff’s security skillsets, periodic scans to identity vulnerabilities in the system, and best practices to address such deficiencies.

Cybercrime is often the outcome of poor security measures and unprotected IT databases. In an age where cyber warfare is known to be a greater menace than nuclear weapons, these measures won’t guarantee a risk-free IT operating zone. Instead, you could consider them as guidelines created to lower vulnerabilities in a system, regulate the internal IT environment, and adequately respond to any detected bugs upsetting your IT system.