The cover story helps readers understand the trend of cyberattacks, the impact of breaches, required strategies, and the need to inculcate best practices to create active resistance against cyberattacks.

Cybersecurity is one of the most often used terminologies in almost all industries in the context of rising cyber threats, including the exploitation of software vulnerabilities, ransomware attacks, and malicious intrusions in enterprise networks. While digital transformation and cloud business are taken to a new level, the “zero trust” approach becomes a widely appreciated strategy from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to large corporates.

The time is crucial for cybersecurity professionals and services providers as intruders simultaneously exploit vulnerabilities in software or network systems and make use of the latest technologies to hijack. Reports suggest that office suits, IoT devices, and other communication agents in the enterprise networks are repeatedly found vulnerable when it comes to resisting breaches. Apart from that, the use of AI-powered cyberattacks also became common practice.

Most of the cyberattacks, such as ransomware and malware attacks, are motivated by financial interests. Such attacks are designated to steal personally identifiable information (PII), Social Security information, and credit card details from servers. The stolen information is generally gets sold in underground digital marketplaces. But then, attacks happened on government enterprises and utility service networks are contemplated the political and diplomatic interests.

Protection of Critical Systems from Cyberattack

Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting IT and network systems from potential cyberattacks; it guards data and sensitive information also from digital attacks. Today, an enterprise requires to install multiple agents in its IT system and educate its workforce to combat breaches that originate outside the organization.

Cyberattacks at an enterprise not only cause loss of trust in partners but also bring a bad reputation in the industry especially if the breach is specific to personally identifiable information (PII) of customers. Therefore, enterprises have no choice but to stay upfront in protecting their critical systems.

The average cost of a data breach was USD 3.86 million globally in 2020. The cost includes:

• Expenses of discovering and responding to the breach
• Downtime
• Revenue
• Reputational damage

Most Known Cyber Threats

Even though enterprises and cybersecurity professions establish strong measures against outside breaches, attackers find ways to exploit in-house weaknesses focusing on remote access tools, work-from-anywhere environments, etc.

The following are some of the known cyberattacks:

Malware

They are malicious software variants, such as viruses, worms, Trojans, and spyware and they can be mostly detected using antivirus tools. However, malware presence in the computer can give unauthorized access to systems.

Ransomware

This is a type of malware that locks down files or data and threatens to erase or destroy the data unless a ransom is paid to the cybercriminals who designated the attack. Recently, ransomware attacks have targeted state and local governments across the world.

Phishing/Social Engineering

Phishing scams often take place through emails or text messages that appear to be sent by a legitimate company asking for sensitive information, such as credit card data or login information. Studies find a surge in pandemic-related phishing, tied to remote work.

Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attacks

DDoS attacks try to crash a server, network, or website by overloading it with traffic – most often from multiple coordinated systems. DDoS attacks overwhelm enterprise networks through the simple network management protocol (SNMP), used for modems, printers, switches, routers, servers, etc.

Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)

An intruder or group of intruders infiltrate a system and remain undetected for an extended period. The intruder leaves networks and systems intact so that the intruder can spy on business activity and steal sensitive data while avoiding the activation of defensive countermeasures.

Enforcement of Security

The network and IT systems can be safeguarded by several layers of security. For that enterprises need a well-thought-out strategy, including robust applications, foolproof network systems, and end-user education. Such efforts can keep intruders away from accessing, stealing, or destroying data.

Alain Penel, Regional Vice President – Middle East, Fortinet, rightly pointed out, “To fight today’s evolving threats, organizations should look into a security platform based on a cybersecurity mesh architecture with security solutions that are designed to work together. A cybersecurity mesh architecture integrates security controls into, and across, widely distributed networks and assets.”

He added, “organizations need to develop a security-driven networking strategy that tightly integrates an organization’s network infrastructure and security architecture, enabling the network to scale and change without compromising security operations.”

The following are some of the areas that need a high level of attention subjected to cybersecurity.

Security for Critical Infrastructures: Critical infrastructures handle data related to national security, public health, and the safety of citizens. Not only credible systems but also concrete measures need to be enforced to protect such information.

Network Security: Both wired and wireless (Wi-Fi) connections have to be protected and ensure no intrusions in them.

Application Security: Enterprises should enforce relevant activities to protect applications whether they function on-premise or in the cloud. Security should be built into these at the design stage, with considerations for how data is handled, user authentication, etc.

Cloud and Storage Security: Cloud service providers offer encryption of data on rest (in storage), in motion, and use. In case, an enterprise protects data within its premise need to be on constant alert.

Information Security: Data protection measures, i.e., GDPR, secure your most sensitive data from unauthorized access.

Disaster Recovery: Several cloud service providers offer disaster recovery services to enterprise customers. In case of unplanned events, natural disasters, power outages, or cybersecurity incidents, they can help businesses to recover data in its original form.

End-User Education: Building security awareness across the organization to strengthen endpoint security. For example, users can be trained to delete suspicious email attachments, avoid using unknown devices, click suspicious links, etc.

“Digital immunity and data protection will become the key pillar of growth, trust, and customer retention for businesses, and they will need to efficiently and seamlessly manage an ever-increasing threat profile and attack canvas,” opined Saket Modi, Co-founder & CEO of Safe Security.

Best Practices

“Zero trust” security strategy: Zero trust strategy assumes compromise and sets up controls to validate every user, device, and connection into the business for authenticity and purpose. Organizations can combine security information to enforce validation controls.

Behavior detection: Advanced detection methods such as user behavior analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) need to be imposed in enterprise environments to confront potential intrusions.

Conclusion
Cybersecurity can be enabled with a proper strategy that needs the support of the right kind of solutions and awareness among the staff members of an organization. Let’s conclude the story attributing to the words of Emad Haffar, Head of Technical Experts, Kaspersky, “Deploy advanced cybersecurity controls to enable the discovery of sophisticated and unknown threats, facilitate investigations and allow timely remediation and response; such tools are anti-APT and EDR solutions among others. In addition, provide staff with basic cybersecurity hygiene training, as many targeted attacks start with phishing or other social engineering techniques.”