Insight

Why enterprises should update security strategies to eliminate blind spots

As organisations embark on their digital transformation journeys they become increasingly exposed to numerous vulnerabilities. Maher Jadallah, regional director, Middle East, Tenable, discusses how they should re-think their approach to security.

What do you think is still lacking among enterprises today that make them vulnerable to cyber-attacks?

We’re frequently asked what organisations can do to protect themselves from the latest attacks, whether it is ransomware or any Advanced Malware (APT). The first step is obvious – establish a solid cybersecurity strategy. You should know which assets are most critical to your operations, determine vulnerabilities and exercise good cyber hygiene practices in maintaining them. Use multi-factor authentication pervasively and make sure tight controls are in place to manage privileged accounts. Doing these “cyber basics” constitute a good foundation for defending against modern attacks such as ransomware and APT and it makes a huge difference.

The most successful recent cyber-attacks employed common methods that leveraged known vulnerabilities of organisations. Also, the increasing hyper-connectivity and waves of new technology, while creating huge opportunities, introduce new risks and weaknesses across the organisation. Therefore, as businesses transform into the digital age, they must examine their digital ecosystem from every angle to protect their businesses today, tomorrow and far into the future.

How have attack surfaces progressed and how does Tenable aim to help organisations address these changes?

An asset is no longer just a laptop or server. It is now a complex mix of digital platforms and assets. These represent the modern attack surface where the assets themselves and their associated vulnerabilities are constantly expanding, contracting and evolving.

This elastic attack surface has created a massive gap in an organisation’s ability to truly understand its Cyber Exposure at any given time. We call this the Cyber Exposure gap – the attack surface through which hackers come in and do damage.

Our Tenable.io, a Cyber Exposure platform, is well-equipped to protect any asset on any computing platform. It helps eliminate blind spots with the industry’s most comprehensive visibility into traditional and modern assets, such as cloud, mobile devices, containers and web applications. This platform offers multiple applications that solve clear security challenges, such as vulnerability management, container security, web application scanning and more.

How should security teams, and organisations in general, evolve their approach to security?

There is a need for a top-down approach as security should be viewed as a shared responsibility within the business. Organisations should consider having a collaborative approach ensuring that they engage with customers and employees by educating them on best practices to manage their personal attack surfaces. This entails companies being more transparent about their own security practices and holding themselves accountable for lapses. If they don’t make security a top business priority and they aren’t sensitive to these changing consumer patterns and needs, they risk losing customers.

Enterprises must lead the way by practicing fundamental hygiene and enforcing a basic standard of care for their customers’ data.

 

Previous ArticleNext Article

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

GET TAHAWULTECH.COM IN YOUR INBOX

The free newsletter covering the top industry headlines