Cybersecurity-wise, we live at a critical time. With hackers making a fine art of their craft — increasing not only the frequency but also the sophistication of their attacks — IT is feeling the pressure. With BYOD and IoT now mainstream, supporting and securing laptops, smartphones, tablets, and remote sensors means corporate IT groups are forced to engage in a multi-front war.
Expanding front
The May 2017 WannaCry ransomware virus infected well over half a million computers in multiple industries in 74 countries around the world. This virus has been followed by Petya and its many variants. New attacks are on the horizon without a doubt.
This multi-front war is hurting companies financially. And it will only intensify. More devices are on the way. A prominent statistical portal predicts that the number of connected IoT devices worldwide will grow to 75.44 billion by 2025, up from 20.35 billion in 2017. Many of these devices and device types require their own distinct security platform and unique configuration.
IT may be doing its best to keep pace, using the required security solutions to keep the proverbial ship watertight, but in too many cases the approach is reactive and the solutions are piecemeal. This can make security slow and sluggish, and with a greater level of complexity the risk of attack rises, and IT ends up with less and less time to devote to its full range of responsibilities.
Moving beyond piecemeal
Point solutions cannot protect companies against all possible security threats. They were designed to solve one specific problem, not the mass of related issues that come with modern attacks. Point solutions may still be highly effective in specific circumstances, but at a time when war is being waged on multiple fronts, they represent an outmoded, incremental approach that adds complexity without significantly improving the overall security posture of an organization. This results in an unwieldy infrastructure that can be difficult for security teams to monitor.
Security guide
“The security immune system” is a guide to taking an integrated “all-in-one” approach to cyber security. This IBM white paper provides details on key elements of the “security immune system,” including:
- Security Transformation Services, which empower your organization to take a more proactive, preemptive, and mature approach to security;
- Security Operations and Response, a platform that offers an integrated, end-to-end approach to safeguarding your system so you can prevent, detect, and respond appropriately and intelligently to cyber threats; and
- Information Risk and Protection, the solutions and services of which can help protect your information while keeping your employees productive.
Synergy is an interaction of elements that leads to the creation of a single whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. This is what is required in cyber security today — an approach that combines many effective elements on many critical fronts into a seamless whole. An exploding number of security endpoints worldwide, combined with a more prolific and sophisticated hacker, has made the bit-by-bit approach to security obsolete. Companies must start thinking along the lines of an integrated approach — an all-angles “security immune system.”
Download “The security immune system” to learn how an integrated framework of security capabilities can help your organization gain visibility, understand and prioritize threats, and coordinate multiple layers of defence.
You can learn more about the full IBM Security portfolio of solutions by visiting the IBM website.
