At the border, the customer company/service integrator always stands a guard in the form of a manager (CISO or a process manager subordinate to him), who controls access levels, determines what to submit at the input and what to expect at the output of the process, which will be performed by an external MDR security services contractor.
Perhaps the main character of the famous “Orwellian” dystopia, Winston Smith, was to some extent paranoid. Still, our modernity convinces us that we should not underestimate threats and, even more so, fight them off with stone age weapons while there are professionals.
If cybersecurity is a process, how should businesses act to be protected?
The answer is simple. You should act as if you have already been hacked. Any company must have a strategy to protect its infrastructure from external attacks and must understand which objects can be attacked (end users, critical infrastructure, etc.). The MSSP’s job is to correctly identify potential risks to assets and predict what attackers might do to those assets. Ranking by the level of criticality of information is also important, on the basis of which the infrastructure protection strategy is built. In addition, it is necessary to have a plan of action in case of a cyber incident – if the company begins to be hacked, is being hacked, or has already been hacked.
The emphasis is that all this must be done before the moment when you are hacked. This is preparatory work in order to be as prepared as possible for a critical situation, minimize losses, preserve reputation, quickly investigate the incident, close the vulnerability, conduct an audit of the protection strategy and adapt the plan to current conditions. It is a cyclical and continuous process.
Cyber security trends
The first is attacks on critical infrastructure. There are many incidents and attacks that happen all the time, but a tiny percentage of them are reported publicly. Among them is the attack on the American pipeline system, which stopped the operation of all pipelines and received the status of the most successful attack on oil infrastructure in the history of the United States.
The second trend is the growth of the number of remote users outside the corporate network. Remote work pushes companies to rebuild security processes because controlling the user and the appropriate level of security outside the office is not the same as protecting the office perimeter. Changing the protection paradigm and, accordingly, adapting to the conditions of remote work was also a trend of 2020−2021 as it is in 2022.
Another trend is the migration of users to the cloud. When companies develop dynamically or need an additional resource to ensure the remote work of users, the work of resources that are needed today (and there is no time to purchase equipment), they “go to the cloud.” But there is a false sense that the cloud is a securely protected resource. This feeling sometimes relaxes users and comforts companies. However, it is necessary to take no less care about security and protect those resources that are in the cloud – either with the means provided by the cloud infrastructure provider or with solutions from third-party executors. There is basic security provided by cloud service providers, and there are more advanced solutions — security required by the corporate customer.
How to adapt?
Working to stay ahead of cyber security in 2022 is a top priority. New fines for data breaches have come into effect, so safety is critical to business survival. The challenges of the pandemic and the associated shift to hybrid work have forced security leaders to think about how to adapt policies and protocols to this new environment.
It is important that such a system is dynamic and can change along with the growth or transformation of the business. In the case of independent efforts, such returns are achieved through unaffordable investments.
With the global shift to remote work and the rapid increase in the number of devices on networks, the threat landscape has expanded significantly overnight. In addition, the proliferation of cyber threats and the associated risk can lead to the exploitation of new vulnerabilities and a host of new attack vectors:
- Supply chain challenges
- Industry shortages
- New technologies such as IoT
- The abundance of misinformation available
Professor Sally Eaves also notes that “cybersecurity as a service is also on the rise – for example, for one job, an attacker receives $250 (and more!). For DoS attacks, an attacker receives approximately $311 per month. The list goes on – the economy of cybercrime is on the rise.”
As the number of threats increases, so do the frequency and sophistication of attacks. But what are the changes related to? “Ransomware, identity theft, social engineering, and disruption of critical infrastructure are cybercrimes that are characteristic of the digital age, as people’s behavior and interactions are increasingly influenced by technology,” says Giuliano Liguori.
Perhaps the most telling-the-difference factor is that a company’s size no longer matters. In the good old days, the target was big fish like corporate networks. Now everyone is a potential victim.
According to Bill Mew, “it’s an ongoing cybersecurity arms race, with both sides using artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies. The speed with which white hats discover and fix vulnerabilities is not inferior to the speed with which black hats discover and exploit them.”
So, it is really crucial to hire an operator providing managed cybersecurity services—state-of-the-art cybersecurity solutions on a subscription model without the need for significant initial capital investments.
Conclusion
The range of managed cyber security services offered are comprehensive: web traffic filtering, anti-SPAM, secure remote access for your employees and contractors (managed VPN), and much more. For demanding customers, MSSPs are ready to consider the implementation of almost any cyber security solution according to their customer’s requirements. The main point is to find your perfect match. Your MDR provider should be well-aware of modern threats and trends, has to use only up-to-date technology, and be able to respond to any alert appearing in the process quickly.