Cybersecurity is a balancing act that protects against known and postulated threats without preventing systems or users from carrying out their functions and accomplishing their business or operational missions. This is why a multilayered defense strategy is commonly employed.
The Human Factor
Information security has become a top priority for companies and individuals as our world becomes more connected. Cybersecurity protects internet-connected devices against hacks, malware, ransomware, data breaches, identity theft, and more. It’s a necessary part of our modern digital lives, including smart home devices like smart thermostats, baby monitors, and video doorbells. How cybersecurity works can be thought of as domino toppling. Just like how a game of dominoes requires skill and planning, cybersecurity also requires careful attention and planning to prevent attacks from happening in the first place. The key to this is understanding how cyber attacks work and preventing their success through techniques like penetration testing, threat modeling, and red teaming. One of the most common ways a security breach happens is through employees, so it’s essential to train all of your remote workers to spot phishing emails and other cyberattacks.
Additionally, any device used for business should be protected with encryption software to ensure that the company’s sensitive information doesn’t end up in the wrong hands. Cybercriminals are taking advantage of increased connectivity, improved technology, and the creativity of humans to steal valuable information from businesses. It’s easy to assume that big corporations and enterprises are the primary targets for bad actors, but small- and mid-sized business owners are also at risk. Cybersecurity is often framed as a technological problem, but human error accounts for about 80% of data breaches and other security issues. That’s why leaders need to consider how their employees might contribute to security issues and take steps to address them. The field of human factors studies how people interact with and use technology and equipment. It considers various factors, including psychology (such as personality and motivation), physiology, and ergonomics, to design products, systems, jobs, environments, and training to make them more user-friendly and effective. It also addresses the impact of organizational culture, work patterns, and resources on behavior. This can help to identify precursors for certain behaviors and prevent them from occurring in the first place.
Secrets Management
Secrets management prevents unauthorized access to critical data, systems, and services. This is achieved by establishing a systematic approach to managing the creation, rotation, revocation, and storage of digital authorization credentials – usernames and passwords, certificates, API keys, SSH keys, x.509 keys, and more. It’s essential to ensure that all users, applications, and third parties adhere to an internal policy governing the make-up and use of passwords, credentials, and keys. This reduces the chance of human error and suspicious activity going unnoticed while maintaining accountability and ensuring that privileges are only elevated for legitimate reasons. Secrets management also requires that all credentials are rotated on a regular schedule to prevent them from being vulnerable to exploitation. This is particularly important because static credentials are among the most common ways hackers gain unauthorized access to sensitive systems and services. To help prevent unauthorized access, secrets management solutions should allow organizations to create detection rules and detect anomalous patterns in how users handle their credentials. In addition, they should enable them to monitor all privileged sessions to log, audit, and monitor users, accounts, scripts, automation tools, etc. This helps improve visibility and oversight while allowing security teams to pause or terminate any session activity that may be deemed suspicious.
Threat Intelligence
Cyber threat intelligence is a collection of information about your business’s threats. It is a valuable resource that can minimize or mitigate cybersecurity risks. But it’s not a standalone solution, and knowing how it works with your other security functions is essential. Security operations teams rely on operational threat intelligence to better understand the tactics and TTPs of attackers. It gives them the context to prioritize vulnerabilities for patching and detect suspicious activity within their networks, such as a spike in network traffic or unexplained file changes. It also helps them better understand the attack surface by providing a more complete picture of their organization’s vulnerabilities, including those that aren’t yet known or exploited. This is especially important given how quickly hackers can update their tactics and rules to take advantage of new events, like the latest phishing scheme or the release of an updated malware version. Using threat intelligence to understand the attacks your adversaries are most likely to make will enable you to build defense mechanisms and set up risk mitigation strategies that work.
Network Security
A comprehensive network security strategy includes people, processes, and policy. It’s a layered approach that works in tandem to keep cybercriminals out and the information they stole or destroyed from coming back in. This is called defense in depth, and it’s the cornerstone of how cybersecurity works. The first layer of network security involves the policies that govern how information can be accessed and used on a computer network. These processes ensure that only authorized access can enter the network and prevent them from using that information in ways not outlined by their authorization. This includes information stored on servers and the physical cables, network adapters, and modems that connect you to the Internet. It also includes the message integrity protocols that ensure nobody can tamper with the data two parties send each other over the network. Once inside the network, hackers and other malicious actors can use their tools to attack a wide range of systems and data, with severe consequences. From lost productivity and the ability to transact to compromising customer privacy and bottom-line business revenue, there are many negative repercussions to a successful cyberattack. That’s why keeping an organization’s infrastructure, networks, and information secure from external threats is essential