With so many high-profile breaches that have graced the headlines of news outlets, there is an incredible concern regarding cybersecurity these days. Major retailers have been put on blast by the media and its customers for not doing as much as they could have in the time leading up to an attack.
It has gotten to the point where people are being swayed on their shopping and investment decisions by how well the company is protecting itself. While spending has gotten easier with technological advances, it has also become more convenient for criminals to infiltrate and steal sensitive information like bank account numbers.
And this is not just speculation. It was recently discovered that almost one-third of consumers are willing to forgo loyalty to a company in the event of a breach. This does not bode well for organizations who have not yet stepped up their defenses in the wake of scandals like those that have occurred at Target and Neiman Marcus. It is starting to become widely accepted that breaches are not a matter of if, but a matter of when.
There is an increased risk associated with doing business today, and it can lead to a loss in sales and trust from customers. Organizations need to be better not only about putting the correct security measures in place, but also selling themselves as a secure company.
How to protect business technology assets
But its not as simple as just throwing up a firewall and calling it a day. As security measures become more complex, so do the attacks designed to disarm them. There have to be several lines of defense standing in the way of malicious hackers and criminal programming.
One common modern threat is malware. Malware can be hiding anywhere – even in seemingly-innocuous smartphone and tablet games. Should these devices connect to enterprise hardware in some way, they risk infecting an entire company. This can leak out customer payment information and potentially endanger millions of people.
This is where anti-executable software, like the kind available from Faronics, can be crucial to protection. Since all programs have to be on an approved list in order to run, anti-executable prevents malware from running, even if it has made its way onto the systems in question. Having this kind of power not only keeps businesses operational, but can be used to provide customers with peace of mind.
