The threat landscape is evolving as cybercriminals have become more sophisticated, stealthy and insidious with their attacks. Cyber attacks are not only growing in frequency, but are becoming more costly for organisations around the world. Endpoints are exploding as employees are bringing an increasing number of their own devices into the workplace, including laptops, smartphones and tablets, and use these devices for professional and personal use. The days of standardised IT are over, with many organisations adopting virtualisation and consumerisation of IT. However, as enterprise IT become more heterogeneous, the threat to information has increased.
Furthermore, approximately 144,000 malicious files are detected each day which translates to a rate of more than 4.3 million each month, according to Symantec 2012 Endpoint Security Best Practices Survey. How are Indian organisations faring in the new threat landscape? Read on to find out.
Information: the most targeted asset
Information being the most valuable asset for any organisation is the most vulnerable as well. The increase in the number and mobility of endpoints opens many new avenues for attackers to compromise critical data. Information security is a leading business concern. Still, organisations are getting better at fighting cybersecurity threats.
FACT: 72% of Indian organisations witnessed attacks in the past 12 months, and over 50% experienced targeted attacks. Examples of recent targeted attacks include Nitro, which affected chemical companies around the world. (Source: Symantec 2011 State of Security Survey Report)
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Endpoint security gets complicated
As the infrastructure becomes more heterogeneous and information becomes central to doing business, cyber attacks are also changing in nature. We are in the midst of a significant shift in the threat landscape; even as there are newer, targeted threats to secure themselves from, enterprises are also experiencing a surge in the number of devices they need to protect. Endpoints are just the medium, attackers today are going after confidential information that they can exploit for profit.
FACT: 1 in 2 Indian organisations find that mobile computing makes security more difficult, and 58% of Indian organisations are increasing budgets for Endpoint security (Source: Symantec 2011 State of Security Survey)
Endpoint attacks are costly
Cyber attacks are not only growing in sophistication but also in cost and in scope, thereby putting all organisations at risk.
FACT: Organisation incurred $470,000 in losses due to endpoint cyber attacks in the past 12 months (Source: 2012 Endpoint Security Best Practices Survey)
Best Practices to improve security posture
In the complex security landscape, rapid response is only part of the job; today, businesses need to stay a step ahead of attackers to secure critical data. To reduce the risk of a successful cyber attack, here are some steps organisations can take:
Assess the risk. It’s vital that organisations identify and classify confidential information. Organisations must know where sensitive information resides, who has access to it, and how it is entering or leaving your organisation. In addition, organisations should continually assess their network and endpoints to identify possible vulnerabilities.
Minimise the risk. Organisations must implement a multi-layer protection strategy to minimise the risk of exploited endpoints. In addition to traditional antivirus, firewall, and host intrusion protection technology, organisations should deploy the latest innovations in endpoint security, such as reputation based security and real-time behavioral monitoring. These newer technologies provide additional efficacy in the battle to thwart many of new cyber-attacks. Finally, organisations must patch applications and systems regularly.
Education is crucial. Train employees on the risks and what they need to do for safe computing and then hold them accountable. Eighty-two percent of top tier companies provide security training to their employees at least annually compared to 66 percent of bottom tier.
Be Prepared. It’s important to prepare for the inevitable by creating a full incident response plan. It’s also vital to occasionally practice implementing the plan. When the time comes to put the plan into action, it will help you by improving your response time and will ensure a more complete response.
(The author is managing director, [India and SAARC], Symantec)
