• IT Security – Threat Management

IT Security – Threat Management

The problem we are all facing

Security has become a more in-depth executive discussion because of the many ways through which businesses can and are being attacked. Mobility, BYOD (bring your own device), virtualisation, the cloud, and social media have all opened new doors and security loopholes into all our businesses. At the same time, all organisations need IT Security protection to allow their business to function, grow and flourish. And of course, the regulatory environment calls for an increasing number of types and levels of proven compliance, with regular and timely updates and maintenance. Sound Hard? Complicated? You are correct – it is.

Adding pressure to organisations is the fact that technologies, business models, regulatory environments, and the threat landscape are continuously evolving. So, security has become a broad IT discipline that affects the entire organisation and calls for a range of highly specialised and dynamic skills and technologies that most businesses don’t currently have. The boardroom question is: how cost-effectively can these be acquired and implemented?

What is the solution to this serious business issue?

With a specifically structured suite of Managed IT Security products, your IT partner can protect your business from the increasing security breach landscape. Some organisations have firewalls, antivirus, and network intrusion prevention systems in place. However, research shows that they are often not fit for purpose in today’s IT environment, are out of date, and businesses don’t always have the workforce capacity or technology to maintain them efficiently. In particular, systems are often not patched regularly. Consequently, organisations don’t always know whether or not they’ve been attacked and aren’t taking proactive steps. Much more importantly, these very limited systems cannot predict attacks.

A Managed IT Security Solution together with reputable IT tools can and does. Recent highly publicised security breaches at many Australasian businesses have proved just how disastrous security breaches and reputational damage can be. However, achieving this necessitates a fundamental change in security focus as well as significant investment. You need industrial-strength levels of documentation, processes, and procedures. Ideally you need qualified engineers and security specialists to continuously monitor your security systems, analyse the alerts and be able to respond immediately. You need to continuously update your technology with the cumulative experience, insight, and knowledge of many independent security experts working towards the same goal of pre-empting attacks. The best way to achieve this successfully and affordably is through an IT Managed Security Service.

Layered Security Options

Below are some security options that need to be considered by businesses: –

Managed Firewall: protects your key information assets across networks, hosts, applications, and databases.

Managed Advanced Intrusion Prevention: can provide a fully managed, 24/7 service that uses network-based intrusion detection and prevention systems to protect networks from attack.

Managed Email Filtering Services ensures that emails are monitored and managed effectively to provide continued protection from information leakage and from viruses, trojans, spyware, and malicious code distributed via email.

Web Managed DNS: provides secure DNS management (filters the internet address book for bad addresses) to remove the threat of any related security threats, with the added functionality of web filtering by location and/or employee.

Managed Password and Account Access Policies: Changing passwords at least every 90 days and/or implementing multi-factor authentication ensures that imposters cannot log into your account from elsewhere, even if they steal your username and password.

If some or all of these descriptions and/or technology terms are not familiar to you, and you are worried about how secure your IT environment is, you need to talk to your IT provider as soon as you can, and before it’s too late.

It is important to note that recent changes to the New Zealand Privacy Act means businesses will be required to notify the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals after suffering a privacy breach where personal and business information is criminally accessed, and where serious harm is likely. The new Act takes effect on 1st December 2020.

Can your business afford the reputational damage?