Published on 27th January,2023
Published by Rohit Chandra
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How cyber security solutions have changed and what does it mean for your business?
Before we get into the cyber security solution and adoption in the enterprise world, let’s understand in simple language what cyber security is all about and the key driving forces behind its evolution. Organisations are moving toward a more digitalised approach to business operations, and technology has become a key pillar of business growth across all industry verticals.
As organisations are embarking on the journey of digital communication with their employees, partners, customers, and infrastructure with digitalised data sharing, information exchange at all levels needs to be secured and protected.
Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability of data must be maintained at all times and levels. Whether data is at rest, in processing, or in transit, it requires adequate protection to maintain sovereignty. Sensitive data pertaining to consumers as well as businesses need to be given utmost importance. Several industry verticals are under the scanner of regulation and compliance authorities to maintain a strong security posture while dealing with financial information and consumer data, thus requiring organisations to adopt a security audit framework with a specific outcome.
Rapid growth in the adoption of advanced technologies can help enterprises achieve seamless management of digital assets & infrastructure, in turn, supporting organisations with the much-required agility and continuity to achieve business efficiency and profitability.
Though a boon in itself, this has resulted in expanding the cyber-attack surface while exposing these vulnerabilities in front of cyber criminals- if not handled and patched proactively.
While such attacks started a new era and space for cybercriminals, they also brought in the lesson that with better connectivity comes greater vulnerability, and thus cybersecurity was conceived. During the earlier days of the Internet, the concept of cybersecurity was simple as all strategies focused on deterring these attacks. However, accelerated adoption of technology, advancements in IoT and cloud computing has catalysed the evolution of cybersecurity solutions, especially in SMEs.
Starting from the very beginning, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) and the US Air Force, in a joint venture, developed a security kernel to detect software vulnerabilities. In the world of cybersecurity solutions, this was the first milestone, which lead the way to antivirus solutions, with the release of first antivirus product in 1987. Though a step in the right direction, the initial antivirus solutions failed as viruses continue to grow on the surface.
Next in line were firewalls, with the first one launched in 1988. The simply coded firewalls became a popular security feature and slowly firewalls become the first line of defense for millions of cyberattacks all over the world.
Though cybersecurity solutions have evolved over the time, so have cyber threats. Now it is more than preventing these attacks as cyber solutions have now become comprehensive strategies including prevention, detection, monitoring, encryption, assessment, and other aspects. Why? The answer is simple: challenges have evolved, risks are greater, and not just for conglomerates, but for SMEs as well.
Key Threats Faced by SMEs:
Internet and cloud adoption is the best route to bootstrap a business in lesser time and with minimal Capex investment. Reaching out to millions of customers through digital channels using applications hosted in a public environment is a reality, helping enterprises expand their footprint.
Accessing company resources and data while working from different geographical locations has become a norm and it is not just limited to a few top executives but customers, employees, and partners. With SMEs globally adopting hybrid working in a post-pandemic world, there has been a significant improvement in efficiency and productivity while drastic extension in the enterprise perimeter.
Now let’s talk about security threats. It all started with a virus and now we have far more complex and advanced threats - social engineering, cloud misconfiguration, malware, ransomware, supply chain compromise, and malicious insiders are some of the most common attack vectors of today.
Such threat actor or malicious actor is either an individual or a group of people who actively take part in an action that is intended to cause harm to the cyber realm including computers, devices, systems, or networks.
Most events and incidents related to the new age cyber-crime are not specifically targeted at one organisation, but it is a part of detailed, anonymous campaigns run via web crawlers which are launched on the basis of social engineering tactics to fish whoever falls prey.
Small and midsize organisations are no less of a target in the eye of a hacker/cyber-criminal than large enterprises. However, most large enterprises are better protected against those vulnerabilities and exploits than their smaller counterparts. Powered by dedicated security teams aligned to protect digital assets and adequate skill set availability to deal with multi-vector cyber threats with different pointed security solutions, global enterprises are equipped in a better way to address such security challenges.
The size of IT budgets at SMBs is allocated to multiple priorities and is usually limited or scarce for Security, thus creating a constant dilemma to choose between infrastructure availability and security. As there is no separate budget for security – most investment in cyber security solutions takes the back seat, the same is seen in human resources alignment for security infrastructure management as well.
When it comes to understanding the entire chain of events leading to cyberattacks, email is the topmost threat vector through which breach events can take place.
Though SMEs jumping on the digital transformation bandwagon and swift adoption of cloud computing and other technologies has only helped in better operations and performance, it has also led to the expansion in the attack surface area. Unlike global conglomerates, SMEs have their focus on bringing in and implementing the technological strategy rather than securing the digital assets. On top of this, several other challenges such as lack of cybersecurity guidelines for SMEs, lack of exclusive cybersecurity budget, and above all, inadequate information about different cyber threats and how to thwart them.
Keeping these problem statements and our customers at the center, Vi Business has developed a Security portfolio to offer holistic protection according to the needs of these organisations.
Vi Business’s Security portfolio is developed in partnership with best-in-breed OEM security technology solutions- Arbor, Fortinet, First Wave and Cisco, which cover elements of network, cloud, and endpoint security with an end-to-end managed services. Our Security portfolio extends round-the-clock proactive monitoring and incident support through orchestration and management tools across different solutions leveraging multiple threat intelligence feeds from different technology partner platforms.
Our hybrid network and security operation support and in-house team of accredited engineers in partnership with technology subject matter experts provide efficient problem management and incident response.
Our services encompass a range of network, cloud & device security helping SMBs on every step of their digital journey. To know more visit: <website link>
In this modern world, traditional security tools won’t help teams in their successful journey. Enterprise leaders need to adopt a holistic approach to develop security strategies to address key security challenges.
MSMEs are the driving force of the Indian economy. At Vi Business, we believe in equipping them with the right digital tools and technology to thrive in today’s business world.
Our ReadyForNext assessment helps MSMEs gain insights into their digital readiness and access India’s largest MSME study.
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