Cyber Fire

Fires have been raging all around the Western Cape in recent weeks and the effects have been devastating.

It got me thinking, that a breach is a lot like a wildfire, especially when it goes undetected for some time. By not having the capability to detect a breach, that acts like a strong wind that fans the flames and allows the hacker to spread and grow across the environment. When this is eventually detected and the fire dies down, you then bring in specialists like J2 Software. The damage has already been done, the information is gone and your reputation is decimated. Recovery is going to require far more time and much more effort to get back to 100%.

Being prepared and equipped, is the key. By now we should all understand that breaches will happen, you need to ensure that you have the right level of visibility to prevent the fire from going from a spark to an inferno. Why do so many wait until they have suffered a major loss before they get the right solutions in place to protect the organisation?

Do you have all the cyber security protection you need? Or do you justify not getting full visibility with “no budget” or that this is “not a necessity”. A loss is always more expensive than deploying a layered defence strategy involving email, internet, end-point, user awareness and visibility.

It is a dangerous gamble to leave one area vulnerable because everything is so interconnected.

Just having a firewall and a basic anti-virus on all your devices is simply not enough.

Here are a few of the layers you need to cover in your security program:

• Integrated email security and visibility – this requires the capability to prevent users from accidentally clicking on malicious links or opening armoured attachments. Disarming links, monitoring phishing sites and sanitizing attachments will help prevent a lot of issues. 
• Endpoint and DNS protection – with the ability to use behavioural monitoring to identify anomalies ad detect new and previously unseen attacks.
• Insider threat protection – which includes the capability to identify risky behaviour which is out of the ordinary. When you know what is good; you can see what the bad behaviour is and react immediately.
• Online and automated Backups – throw in a management service to ensure these are actually working.
• Managed encryption for your end points - to protect information in the event of a loss of hardware, reduce risk and ensure compliance with data regulations.
• User awareness training - to ensure that human error breaches can be prevented.

All the above-mentioned solutions and so much more is provided by J2 Software.

Don’t wait for a fire to start only to realise you should’ve had fire breaks in place.

We are here to put out the cyber fires, before they even start!

Let’s get real.

Olivia-Hannah Coetzee