Cyberthreats and attacks—including insider threats, nation-sponsored entities and evolving cyberattack techniques such as zero-day and targeted malware, electronic espionage and complex data exfiltration—are not going away. They are only escalating. How secure is your cyberinfrastructure?

Considerations for Securing CyberInfrastructure

• Log4j, which is expected to wreak havoc for years to come, underscores the importance of proactive and ongoing application updates.
• The SolarWinds attack continues to have far-reaching implications. The Russian group suspected to be behind the SolarWinds compromise in 2020 continues to innovate and infiltrate technology services and resellers, according to a new report from Mandiant.
• Data breaches are increasing each year and remain a top threat to cyberinfrastructure. As of September 30, 2021, there were 1,291 data breaches—a 17% increase over breaches reported during all of 2020, according to a report by Identity Theft Resource Center.
• Being proactive is critical to staying ahead of the latest threats. For most organizations, this means fine-tuning your cybersecurity programs. To do this, you need to look at every layer of your program, of which there are several essential security layers necessary to shore up your security posture and threat awareness including:
  • Endpoint protection. This is typically part of most cybersecurity programs and it is essential to ensure your organization has it deployed and properly configured as part of your cyberinfrastructure. Laptops, cell phones and tablets are attackers’ top entry points of choice. What tools should you look for to protect your endpoints? Firewalls, patch management, anti-exploit, advanced threat protection and anti-malware/anti-ransomware products. But remember, these products are not set-and-forget. They are constantly evolving, which is why vendors of these products offer terms of service in yearly increments to ensure you receive and deploy any new features and protections available with the products over time.
  • Email protection to defend against phishing and credential theft. While endpoints are a hacker’s favorite point of entry, email is also a top choice. Work-from-home has amplified the need to ensure employees are educated about phishing attempts and other various attack methods. Education is key—be sure your organization has security awareness training for all employees. As vulnerable as email is, many of these attacks can be diverted before they enter your organization with a properly configured email solution.
  • Comprehensive data backup and recovery solutions that protect your data whether on-premises or in the cloud. It’s not a matter of if but when your cyberinfrastructure gets breached. In fact, chances are you’ve already been breached—and don’t even realize it. To plan for the inevitable, shore up your data on the back end. The best approach to data backup is one that relies on three copies of data backups, two local backups, one copy stored off-site and a final one for immutable storage in case of a ransomware attack to ensure a speedy recovery and business continuity.

Don’t Go it Alone

While it can be challenging to identify the best solutions for your organization, many are choosing to align with partners who can help make recommendations to maintain their security posture and secure their cyberinfrastructure. What’s important is ensuring any recommended solution aligns with current tools and programs. In seeking out a partner, be sure that provider can assess your existing toolset, what has not yet been implemented, and potential overlap.