Cybersecurity efforts require proactive, cooperative approach

As cyber threats increase in complexity and persistence, efforts in the security industry to encourage businesses that safeguarding data, systems, and other assets must be a continuous effort toward improvement have ramped up.

Just a decade ago, a good antivirus program might have been enough of a solution to prevent malware from disrupting business operations. Much more must be done on a regular basis for organizations to even consider themselves reasonably secure against cyber attacks, and it requires an awareness and effort from every level of an enterprise.

“Companies are getting more secure, but criminals are getting more complex as well,” said Charles Henderson, vice president of managed security testing at Trustwave. “Complacency is probably one of the biggest factors in poor security posture. There’s no destination for security. It’s an ongoing process, it’s a commitment.”

With all the resources available to the organizations worldwide, businesses’ cybersecurity posture should be poised to improve as awareness of the risks grows. However, just as quickly as the security industry develops ways to prevent cybercrime, the bad actors find new ways to duck around threat detection.

“We have seen adversary activity increase in terms of velocity, volume, and variety of attacks,” stated Clint Sand, Symantec’s senior director of global cyber readiness and incident response services. “However, many organizations are struggling to staff the skillsets necessary to battle attackers. Customers are expanding the notion of what it means to protect themselves from a pure prevention mindset to one that addresses the full lifecycle of a cyber event – from preparation to detection, response and recovery.”

This “defense-in-depth” strategy requires organizations to understand that security done well means taking many proactive steps in concert with each other – doing penetration testing, having threat detection software, training employees, having secure web gateways, and other deliberate actions to promote cybersecurity.

Trustwave’s Henderson told Advisen, “There’s no silver bullet solution that is going to redefine the industry. It’s a back-and-forth game.”

He added, “Maybe two decades ago, the message was, ‘This product can help you.’ Now, the message is, ‘these products and these activities can help you.’”

The regularity with which data breaches occur may suggest that law-abiding organizations will still fight a losing battle against cybercriminals. Symantec’s Sand offered some optimism on that point from the security industry perspective.

“As an industry, adversary defense has been a lengthy and costly proposition,” he told Advisen in an email. “By combining automation, analytics, intelligence and the world’s top security operators, we’re able to put some fear in the eyes of the attacker and reduce the probability and impact of these attacks for our customers.”

In recent months, new capital has flooded the security industry, with start-up firms booming and existing firms with solid track records expanding further. Crowdstrike, a provider of threat intelligence solutions, just announced $100 million in financing to jumpstart growth in adoption. Symantec announced a partnership with Frost Data Capital to provide cybersecurity startups with funding. BitSight, a provider of security ratings for individual companies and industries, secured a second round of financing to the tune of $23 million.

The steady introduction of new security firms offers the opportunity for more assistance for all organizations that may not be able to beef up their internal security staff, according to experts.

“Frankly, there’s something of a skill shortage in the world in general when it comes to IT security,” said Henderson. “So, the world of IT security becoming bigger is a good thing, provided we continue to develop and cultivate the labor force. I think right now companies are at a distinct disadvantage. There just aren’t enough experts to go around.”

The wide variety of solutions, however, indicates that businesses must choose providers wisely and properly integrate their selections.

Sand of Symantec noted, “The cyber security problem is complex and requires continued innovation that has certainly driven many companies to offer their own perspectives. What our customers tell us however is that the complexity of integrating many point solutions from multiple vendors negates the value of these new solutions.”

He commented, “Point solutions may help companies find a needle in a haystack but we hear from our customers that they are drowning in needles. Integrated solutions are key.”