Category: Enterprise

Top 10 Enterprise Security Technologies You Need in 2022

Posted on by Lily

The cybersecurity tech stack has been spiraling out of control for years now. Even before the rise of industrialized ransomware-as-a-service providers, enterprise security leaders had too many vendors in their tech stacks. Now, the average enterprise deploys an average of 45 different security solutions at any given time.

In the world of information security, more does not necessarily mean better. Having many different cybersecurity solutions working together can easily create gaps in your overall security posture. In many cases, these gaps are nearly invisible – it would take a full audit to uncover them. But that doesn’t mean cybercriminals are equally unaware of them.

Today’s most secure enterprises concentrate their limited time and resources on implementing best-in-class solutions from reputable, trustworthy vendors. Quality, not quantity, is vital for adequately protecting your organization from cyberattack.

For enterprise security leaders, navigating dozens of different technologies is a steep challenge. Finding a set of security solutions that don’t interfere with one another is easier said than done. To that end, we’ve collected a list of high-performance security technologies that work in complementary ways, giving IT leaders a clear reference point for building out their stack.

Top 10 Security Solutions on Enterprise IT Leaders’ Radar in 2022

1. Exabeam SIEM

Security information and event management is a core functionality in the modern enterprise security framework. In order to accurately keep tabs on an increasingly complex attack surface, analysts need to be able to collect and interpret log data from across the entire organization. Early SIEM solutions evolved to meet this need, providing valuable insight on external threats and risk factors.

Exabeam takes the SIEM concept one step further. Instead of comparing log activity to a static set of security rules and policies, it uses user entity and behavioral analytics to verify authenticated users against an internal baseline of authorized activity. This enables Exabeam to identify insider threats and malicious activities that static rules-based SIEMs cannot see, making it a valuable addition to any complex enterprise.  

2. Anomali ThreatStream

SIEM vendors typically include a generic set of threat indicators in their software’s default configuration. These provide the indicators of compromise that analysts match against observed activity on the enterprise network. The more accurate and comprehensive they are, the better.

Anomali ThreatStream is a threat intelligence service that integrates real-time threat activity data with SIEM log capture and analysis capabilities. Instead of matching user activities against hundreds of well-known threat indicators, you can match those activities against a timely, curated list of tens of thousands of indicators collected from across the world.

3. Palo Alto Networks Cortex XDR

Extended Detection and Response (XDR) goes beyond the limitations of traditional endpoint detection and response systems. It provides proven endpoint protection that can block sophisticated malware and prevent fileless attacks while extending that coverage using behavioral analytics and valuable investigative toolsets.

Analysts can use Palo Alto Cortex XDR to quickly investigate threats and gain a comprehensive understanding of the tactics and techniques used. They can orchestrate coherent responses to these attacks while maintaining compliance with applicable incident management regulations. Cortex is a powerful and accurate tool for orchestrating and executing successful incident response playbooks in the enterprise IT environment.

4. OneMorePass

Security doesn’t always have to come at the cost of usability. OneMorePass is a technology that updates one of the most overlooked aspects of enterprise security – the password. Even if your password policies are up-to-date, that’s no guarantee that employees and users are adequately taking care of their password habits. They may still reuse passwords across devices, write them down on paper, or share them between account holders.

OneMorePass secures enterprise systems from many of the weaknesses associated with bad passwords. It uses the Fast Identify Online (FIDO) framework to establish dual-factor authentication mechanisms that continuously validate users without interrupting the user experience itself. These authentications typically use a mobile device to register fingerprint, voice, or facial recognition data to ensure a secure environment.

5. Resec CDR

Content Disarm and Reconstruction is one of the most successful prevention-based technologies available to the modern enterprise. Instead of allowing incoming files to move throughout the network, Resec CDR scans the incoming file and rebuilds a perfectly identical one in the same format as the original. If there are malicious scripts included in the original, they are automatically left out by the rebuilding process – even if they’re undetected.

Previous generations of CDR technology created “flattened” files with significantly reduced usability – essentially image files of the source document. Resec provides a fully functional sanitized copy of all incoming files that matches the content and format of the original. With Resec, an incoming spreadsheet will retain its internal structure and metadata and remain fully editable, the way it should be.

6. DeltaForce

Robust security architecture relies on high-quality development and maintenance routines. In an enterprise environment, that means keeping track of multiple languages and technologies through an increasingly complex knowledge base system. Keeping that system up to base is not easy, especially if you have to do it manually.

DeltaForce is a solution that streamlines the process of updating and maintaining enterprise knowledge base content. It automatically imports source files and database schema, then identifies the object-level dependencies they share. This eliminates the need to manually manage object dependencies and build knowledge base data from scratch, making it much easier to identify and secure enterprise vulnerabilities.

7. Microsoft PowerBI

Data visualization is a critical aspect of data-driven enterprise culture. Security leaders can’t achieve results if they’re unable to demonstrate the value of the tasks they undertake and influence others to become more conscientious about their own security habits. Microsoft PowerBI is a data visualization tool that helps security leaders motivate users and other stakeholders to play their part achieving overall security goals.

Real-time analytics enable security leaders to show executives and shareholders how their decisions impact the company’s bottom line. They provide ample data into how security decisions impact productivity, and help make a clear case for continuing security investment to successfully protect against new and evolving threats.

8. DataHawk

Data lineage is critical to effective governance. In order to ensure data flow throughout the organization follows local and national regulation, you must be able to track how that data actually moves through each step in the enterprise workflow. DataHawk gives security leaders insight into how data moves between enterprise departments and what kinds of transformations it undergoes in the process.

This enables the enterprise to break down organizational silos, increase productivity, and simplify compliance management. It also reduces the risks associated with change management, and ensures low-quality data doesn’t interfere with high-level decision-making.

9. Wazuh 

Wazuh is an open-source security platform that has an important role to play in the modern enterprise. Remote work has become a hallmark of the post-pandemic workplace, and many security leaders are still working through the impact remote-enabled teams have on security operations.

Remote log management is one of the key use cases for Wazuh’s open-source security platform. Organizations with a highly diverse, distributed team of employees spread out across the globe can use Wazuh to standardize data collection and curation so that analysts have access to ready-made logs that are easy to interpret without delay.

10. CheckPoint CloudGuard 

Cloud-enabled workflows are becoming increasingly common among large enterprises. While cloud infrastructure is notably more secure than most on-premises solutions, it does present several unique vulnerabilities that information security leaders must address. Relatively few vendors focus specifically on containerized workflow security, which makes it attractive to ambitious, technically proficient cybercriminals.

CheckPoint CloudGuard provides threat prevention capabilities specifically suited to containerized applications common to DevOps pipelines. Agile enterprises need a solution like CloudGuard to prevent unsecured DevOps workflows from impacting production environments and creating avoidable vulnerabilities in their security posture.

Select Your Security Tech Stack With Care

Optimizing your tech stack is one of the greatest responsibilities a security leader must shoulder. A robust, well-integrated set of solutions will reliably prevent cyberattacks and mitigate data disasters. An ill-chosen selection of technologies will have the opposite effect, and it’s hard to predict exactly how a dozen different technologies will interact with one another in a given environment. Take care to select and test high-quality technologies you can rely on to work together seamlessly. Contact us today to implement the best enterprise technologies with ease.

 

FIDO Explained: How Fast Identity Online Authentication Works

Posted on by Lily

Don’t let bad passwords become the Achilles’ Heel of your organization’s security posture.

Passwords are by far the most common way to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive systems and data. 

It’s easy to understand why passwords have been the security status quo since the earliest days of computing. A good password is nearly impossible to break using conventional brute force attacks, where attackers attempt to guess a password by repeatedly checking millions of possible combinations in sequential order.

However, the definition of a “good password” is constantly changing. During the dot-com era, security professionals set the 8-character password as a viable standard for enterprise security. 

In some industries this is still the case today, despite the fact that hackers can now successfully break even the most complex 8-character passwords in less than an hour. For comparison, an equally complex password with double the number of characters would take 92 billion years to crack.

The problem is that it’s not easy to create and remember such long, complicated passwords. Everyone understands how to make a perfect password using a random sequence of numbers, punctuation marks, and capital and undercase letters. Yet when prompted to create one for themselves, very few actually take time to create and memorize a good password. Instead, they choose one that’s simple, memorable – and easy to crack.

Despite this fact, the average employee is expected to create and remember hundreds of different passwords throughout their career. It’s easy to understand why people tend to reuse passwords, write them down, and generally undermine password effectiveness in their day-to-day operations.

Ultimately, this means passwords tend to fail in their role protecting sensitive data and accounts from unauthorized access. Security leaders constantly try to update and enforce good password policy, but they fail whenever that policy conflicts with employee productivity and ease of use.

FIDO Authentication Techniques Go Beyond Passwords

Passwords are not the only way people can authenticate themselves. Any unique characteristic that a person has can be used to validate their identity. 

Passwords rely on information that only an authorized user is supposed to know. Other authentication methods rely on behaviors or qualities that only authorized users have.

Fast Identity Online is not one specific technology, but a collection of technical standards that push credential security beyond simple passwords. These protocols work together to provide robust credential security without disrupting the user experience or inhibiting productivity.

Many of these authentication processes rely on identifying who users are, instead of testing them on what they know. Examples of FIDO-enabled authentication processes include:

  • Speaking into a microphone
  • Touching a fingerprint scanner
  • Looking into a camera

These authentication factors are much harder to break than even the best passwords. This is especially the case when using multi-factor authentication to validate users using more than one.

Unlike passwords, these factors can undergo periodic validation without interrupting the user experience. In some cases, there is no need to stop authorized users from doing whatever they’re doing when verifying their identities, and it’s possible to verify them multiple times during a single session.

FIDO Protocols Treat Privacy Seriously

Facial images, fingerprints, and voice recordings are examples of highly sensitive biometric data. One of the most important characteristics of the FIDO authentication protocol is how it treats this data to ensure security and user privacy.

Before sending any data for validation, FIDO-enabled devices establish an encrypted communications channel with the verifying server. The private key that secures this channel never leaves the user’s device, reducing the risk it gets intercepted by opportunistic hackers. Similarly, the biometric data itself is stored on the user’s device instead of the validating server.

Before people can start using FIDO authentication protocols, they must register and select the authentication method they feel most comfortable with. FIDO protocols do not generally favor one method over another, so users can simply choose not to provide biometric data they don’t want to share.

In most cases, the data itself comes from a paired mobile device. This way, anyone who uses facial recognition on their smartphone can easily extend that authentication factor to any FIDO-enabled application they have access to. The same goes for fingerprint scanning and vocal identification.

There are additional FIDO-compliant authentication methods that don’t require biometric data at all. For example, users who do not wish to be recorded or scanned can choose to enter a PIN code into their smartphone or press a specific button. This ensures the user is in possession of their mobile device and capable of unlocking it.

FIDO Addresses Password Policy Shortcomings

By challenging users to prove their identity based on biometric data or activity data, FIDO-enabled applications avoid forcing users to remember complicated passwords. When users no longer have to periodically set and change their passwords, they are better positioned to focus on their work without worrying about security policy.

The practical benefit of FIDO-enabled security is that it lifts security responsibility off employees’ shoulders. Instead of prompting them to create, remember, and periodically change a complex password, FIDO requires only that they have a compatible mobile device ready.

There are even FIDO-compliant solutions that don’t require users to validate with their personal smartphone. Universal Second Factor (U2F) devices are secure USB dongles that play the same role, validating user identities and transmitting authentication data to a secure server without disrupting the user experience.

When taken together, these technologies and policies provide strong authentication security without relying on passwords. They address many of the critical weaknesses that come from bad password policy.

Almost 70% of employees admit sharing their passwords with co-workers. FIDO-compliant authentication data cannot easily be shared the way passwords are. The authorized user must be physically present and aware of the session, and may periodically have to renew it. This has a profoundly positive impact on enterprise security compliance.

Implement Best-in-Class Authentication Policies Today

Enhancing your organization’s authentication policies is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve operational security without disrupting the user experience. Implement a FIDO-compliant technology like OneMorePass and benefit from a flexible, secure authentication solution that puts the user experience first.

5 Steps to Improve Enterprise Cybersecurity

Posted on by Lily

Cybersecurity is a widespread issue across multiple industries. Cyberthreat reports indicate that many companies have been targeted by hackers or been subject to data breaches. One report states that 68% of all organizations in the education industry reported being subject to a data breach over the last year, and 67% of schools had reported being attacked by phishing scams.

Nearly 40% of businesses in the US experienced cyberattacks in 2021. With the cost of recovering from these attacks rising (nearly $3 million on average) and the frequency and complexity of these attacks also increasing, it’s more important than ever for enterprise organizations to create a plan and prepare for these issues.

In this article let’s look at the need for enterprise cybersecurity and how to get started.

Why do enterprise companies need extra security?

Today’s enterprise IT solutions are much more complicated than traditional security. You can’t just put a firewall around on premise hardware, because it is complex and there are many different ways hackers can get in.

While people outside of the company are still the primary cause for much of the attacks, 25% of breaches are now caused by careless employees or even malicious insiders and most companies have an IT infrastructure that’s a mix of old systems, new applications and either public or private cloud-based solutions.

What enterprise cybersecurity really means

Enterprise cybersecurity is used to protect data on the cloud, and old cybersecurity tactics weren’t designed to protect data on the cloud.

To ensure a company’s security, protection must be across on-premise and cloud-based infrastructure as well as vetting third parties. Another important part of cybersecurity is protecting new connections coming to your network.

Why is enterprise cybersecurity such a difficult challenge?

IoT devices like smart cities and connected factories are quickly becoming a norm. Many businesses that rely on IoT networks will experience data hacks without proper security measures in place.

Businesses need data to both engage with their customers and automate their internal processes. But cybercriminals understand exactly how valuable data is, so crimes like ransomware and phishing are increasing. You want to train your employees of the most common mistakes that will lead to cybersecurity issues.

When security breaches occur in a company, the results are costly and devastating. In order to protect your company, you need cybersecurity that goes beyond simply creating a perimeter. With the growing threat, new needs arise for robust enterprise cybersecurity.

5 Steps to Improve Enterprise Cybersecurity

Now that you understand the difference between enterprise cybersecurity and traditional cybersecurity, let’s look at the the top 5 things you can do today to improve it.

Boundaries

You must have a set of boundaries for your assets; each object is protected by information safeguards, such as your data on a local hard drive or the cloud.

Mirroring the changes in cloud computing and the Internet of Things, boundaries have become a more significant issue. Before, local IT staff would safeguard valuable information assets through on-site storage and copying.

When you’re sharing data with a third-party cloud server, there needs to be boundaries in place. Every type of transferable data must have a boundary and, for example, when your company is using different devices for downloading, editing, and uploading, those must also be protected from all possible methods of interception.

Software policies

The second component of enterprise information security is the software environment. Define the purpose and policies for each form of software within your company system. If a software program falls out of use or is old, it should be removed from the system.

When you are defining your environment, you can choose what type of software is allowed to contact the network. If your organization has a lot of employees who come from various devices and have various levels of access to computers and the company’s systems, be aware that any accessible software might pose a threat to your company’s computer system.

To constantly update your software security, you need to make sure you are installing updates and patches, and scanning your devices regularly. These programs are essential to keep your company up to date with the latest trends in technology.

Network security

Step 1: Identify the network environment and boundaries. Step 2: Harden any assets that connect to the network.

To harden your system, scrutinize and test every device for vulnerabilities. If a third party can break one of the devices, reprogram or remove it from the system. Likewise, fix software or cloud protocols which expose private data.

If your network is more secure, it may be less functional. One possible solution is to take the safest steps possible while still maintaining the functionality of your company’s operations.

Plan for vulnerabilities

Although endpoint cybersecurity is often good, there are target vulnerabilities in software programs. Cyber thieves exploit new program patches and updates – it’s important to ultimately stay ahead by staying updated on new methods that cyber thieves use.

Ensure that a security risk or system hole is patched up as soon as it’s discovered. This will prevent your company’s computing network from being vulnerable and unsecured.

You don’t know a data breach is happening until it takes place for a long time. If you want to speed up the process of discovering and correcting a breach in your system, then use an effective remediation plan. Hackers can access your sensitive data for months before someone notices the danger.

Controlled access

Once you have determined who is supposed to have administrative access, you can then cut off their entrance point and prevent hackers or cyber thieves from getting in that way. It is crucial to review the current level of access and determine who has authorized levels of access.

Take a look at the credentials of your employees assigned admin privileges. If they don’t require these abilities, remove them. There should be an exception for someone who plays an important administrative function and requires limited access to this area.

Ready to take the next step?

We-Bridge curates the best enterprise cybersecurity products that will keep your company protected from cyberattacks and breaches. Take a look at our product offerings on our website or schedule a demo today to learn more.

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