For IT administrators and CIOs, 2014 was a year of massive change in the industry. Data breaches were happening left and right, and new types of cyber attacks seemed to be created every day. Learning from the events of the past year, many enterprise IT decision-makers are working to overhaul their organizations’ cybersecurity systems in order to more effectively defend against cyber criminals and data theft. Below are the top four areas of cybersecurity that businesses are focusing on in 2015.
1) Endpoint security
For the last few years, endpoint security strategies have remained fairly stagnant. But with the amount of enterprise attacks emanating from a compromised employee increasing, endpoint protection has become a central focus of the industry. With endpoints becoming too numerous to count as mobile devices proliferate the workplace, a strong endpoint security solution is an absolute must. One of the most reliable ways to protect enterprise data across a variety of platforms is by employing a layered security approach. Utilizing an endpoint defense solution from Faronics offers a variety of defense features, such as anti-virus, application whitelisting, reboot and restore and user access management, and enables them to be deployed from any connected device.
2) The Internet of Things and accompanying cyber threats
The interconnection of smart devices known collectively as the Internet of Things is one of the most popular topics of discussion within the tech industry, but is also one of the most potentially dangerous things to emerge in the sector in years. The smart systems in our devices, as well as cars, TVs, thermostats and even socks are increasingly being monitored with the data available in real time.
While the information gathered from those devices is personal, it pales in comparison to the sensitive information that is collected by systems connected to industrial infrastructure. Practically everything that keeps a city running – roads, airports, power plants – are now connected and controlled by automated systems. This adds an enormous threat surface for cyber criminals to infiltrate, the effects of which could be disastrous. To combat this threat, security networks are working on ways to protect operation networks and industrial systems to increase their defenses and keep hackers at bay.
3) Cloud security
Public cloud infrastructure and security-as-a-service solutions are being adopted at a rapid pace by IT decision-makers in large and mid-sized businesses. However, administrators are losing the ability to monitor where critical applications are running and where sensitive data is being stored, creating a larger threat surface for cyber criminals to exploit. In order to protect against the growing number of attacks exploiting cloud platforms, enterprises should adopt solutions that monitor activity in the cloud and lock down critical infrastructure and data.
4) Concentrating on the human element
Despite all of the advances being made by cyber security companies, cyber criminals have somehow managed to thrive and become more prolific than ever before. Much of the current success of hackers and cyber thieves has to do with the human element of the Internet and business. The most damaging attacks are those that involve other people – phishing schemes, social engineering, etc. Without involving employees and those who interact with the IT infrastructure on a daily basis, an enterprise network will never truly be safe from cyber criminals.