3 Common Myths and Misconceptions Around Security and Connectivity
Every day there are more news stories about data breaches compromising networks and customer information all over the world. Because of this escalation, cybersecurity has become a serious concern for businesses and consumers as they fight to keep their information safe. After all, not only does a cyberattack have the potential to leak customer credentials, it also can cost a business thousands to millions of dollars and valuable time. Experts now predict cybercrime damages will reach $6 trillion by 2021 and a single breach can cost a business as much as $4 million.
With growing concern over how to stay safe online, many misconceptions are causing businesses to avoid adopting new technologies, which can stifle growth. Here are a few common myths and misconceptions when it comes to security and connectivity.
Security Myth 1: Using the cloud puts you at a higher risk for a cybersecurity incident
Among certain industries, such as public safety, there is a large anti-cloud sentiment. Since there is sensitive information being accessed such as criminal records, personal addresses, names and more on their networks, there is a tremendous fear of being compromised and a much lower tolerance of risk. A lack of knowledge about the cloud also inhibits executives from making the switch.
In reality, for most companies to better execute and compete, they have to embrace the cloud and a shared responsibility model for security. The federal government has adopted this shared responsibility model with cloud service providers and application vendors with the launch of cloud.gov and FEDRAMP for authorized cloud applications.
Even with sensitive information on their applications and networks, enterprises can reduce the risk of cloud technology by following trusted security practices. Any company evaluating new technologies should use industry-specific risk management frameworks to identify potential risks.
Cybersecurity vulnerabilities are also created when enterprises delay software patches and updates. One way to avoid this risk is to use cloud-based management platforms that continually update thousands of edge LTE-enabled firewalls and routers supporting them, especially in the area of public safety use cases. By utilizing a cloud manager, you can achieve real-time monitoring and patching capabilities so that one person can manage your SD-WAN, IoT and 4G LTE connectivity and keep the edge of the network secure.
Security Myth 2: Adopting IoT could introduce vulnerabilities or increase your attack surface
Some businesses mistake IoT as only smart devices such as speakers, thermostats, etc. While those devices are also considered IoT, they are not generally applicable to most enterprise use cases. IoT for business is more about managing and securing high-value assets such as ATMs, video surveillance, digital signage and HVAC monitoring. By 2020, nearly every large corporation, organization or government agency will be heavily involved in IoT or at least want to be. Gartner predicts the aggregated value and economic benefit of IoT will exceed $1.9 trillion by that date.
The most common misconception surrounding security and connectivity for your IoT devices is that the more IoT devices that you have, the less secure you are. Some believe that if one device is compromised, there is nothing stopping the rest of the network from being in jeopardy.
One of the best ways to prevent even one IoT device from being breached on your network and compromising other resources is through a combination of LTE-enabled parallel networking and software-defined perimeter (SDP) technologies. When combined with an LTE parallel network, a SDP makes it easy to connect people and things to applications and resources with software and physical segmentation from your core business data and applications that eliminates the possibility of a compromised IoT device.
Multiple device types can be connected directly with SDPs via a software client, including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and even Docker containers. For unsupported devices, such as IoT sensors or security cameras, admins can connect the IoT device to the parallel network behind an LTE router acting as an SDP Gateway. This technique adds a layer of physical security and software-defined policies to an IoT deployment and reduces the overall attack surface for an enterprise network.
Security Myth 3: You cannot run a business on all 4G wireless technology
Aside from the security concerns of others compromising the wireless technology, many businesses are worried that running all wireless for their business will cost too much. A lot of companies adopt voice over IP over any broadband WAN when voice over IP over LTE could perform more reliably.
In many cases, there are more security controls and technology around LTE than some of the wired broadband networks delivered over physical wires and cables from hundreds of providers for an enterprise.
Businesses and consumers should start to adopt a zero-trust policy and assume that devices, users, networks and workloads can be compromised at any time, but trust the security measures deployed to protect those devices. At the end of the day, the No. 1 way that hackers can get in is often through human errors. By practicing online safety habits such as never opening links from unknown sources, not plugging devices into networks you don’t know and keeping your passwords private, you greatly decrease your risk for attack.
