The notion of being able to immediately respond to a security breach meaning your business has the luxury of being safe is flawed.
While it’s not wrong and such approaches to security do deal with the issues at that you know of, the solution is only a temporary fix. After all, if this is your IT security strategy it’s only a matter of time until you will need to resolve your next breach.
As the English metaphor goes; “the goalposts are always shifting”. In the context of business, few things shift more quickly than security threats.
As we find ourselves increasingly surrounded by smart and connected technologies – from consumer devices through to integrated business networks – the reality is the number of IT security vulnerabilities is growing. For instance, an organisation looking to enable mobile working must empower its employees to work from multiple devices and locations, meaning the IT department must make the network available to those outside of the office.
A great way to think about business security is to think of the protocols we encounter at the airport. Generally speaking, airports around the world have systems in place to significantly reduce their risks. From CCTV cameras and metal detectors to x-ray machines and sniffer dogs – airports take a holistic approach to security.
Business needs to do the same, because being reactive to security threats is no longer enough. Especially given the crucial role technology plays within business today.
Identify who is who
Knowing who is in your network is a critical first step to security. It’s a luxury airports have, given the majority of people passing through their network have a pre-existing booking.
A recent PwC report revealed despite the majority of infamous security incidents being driven by external agents, a third of businesses said accidental or unwitting breaches by employees were more damaging. As such, with mobility and BYOD strategies being rolled out across Australia (giving employees the power to access almost any business resource remotely), it’s essential businesses focus their efforts on implementing end-to-end security solutions and increasing their awareness of who is accessing the network.
Looking at the BYOD model and the variety of devices used by employees to access the network, one of the biggest challenges businesses need to overcome is taking back access control. Since ownership and maintenance of devices is the onus of employees, IT departments must have a firm understanding of which users are connecting to their network, and how they are doing so.
Implementing Application Delivery Controller (ADC) technology is one element to address this challenge. ADCs provide a single point of control and visibility in front of the applications. The insight they can yield provides crucial information to IT managers allowing them to identify vulnerabilities, non-compliant users or unprotected devices that are at risk of being exploited. What’s more; with ADCs the responsibility of security across all access points reverts back to the business, instead of being in the hands of the user… Click HERE to find out more about this article
