How to Make Your Company Less Appealing to Hackers

Throw a few speed bumps in their paths and many cyber criminals will give up and look for easier targets. That was one of the takeaways from a blog post we did back in March on cyber-attacks Group of ecstatic business partners looking at camera with raised armsfrom the attackers perspective. More recently, this sentiment was echoed in Verizon’s 2016 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). According to the DBIR, 80% of cyber-attacks are motivated by money. Verizon’s experts also theorized that, should a task seem too daunting, attackers will most likely look for more easily-achievable financial windfalls.

Which is exactly what Bangladesh’s central bank must have looked like to hackers. Earlier this year, the organization fell victim to a cyber-attack which cost it $81 million. As bad as that sounds, things could have actually been worse. The attackers were trying to get their hands on almost $1 billion through the use of fraudulent transfers. However, a typo raised a red flag and most of the payments were blocked, save for that $81 million which slipped through.

Post mortems on the attack have turned up some serious alleged deficiencies in the bank’s security and infrastructure. Not only did the bank lack a firewall, but it used secondhand switches in its data center. Secondhand switches that cost it a meager $10. Granted, the most expensive tools on the market aren’t always the best ones, but that’s a little less than most businesses would think to invest in their data centers and on security.

Spend is only part of the IT security puzzle 

Obviously, that is an extreme example of a business potentially making itself a target. The latest budgeting survey of CIOs by Nomura Holdings found that security was the top driver of IT spend. Of the IT executives surveyed, 82% named security among their top drivers. That’s up from the 80% recorded by researchers back in October. In both cases, that figure was more than enough to land security in the top spot.

A willingness to invest in the latest security solutions is a great place to start when it comes to keeping off of cyber crooks’ radar. If those tools aren’t regularly maintained, fine-tuned, and readjusted to match the threat landscape, all of that spend might be for nothing. While they won’t suddenly turn into an absent firewall or a $10 switch, these high-priced, high-powered tools won’t be operating at peak efficiency, leaving an opening for attackers to possibly exploit.

To ensure the performance of security solutions, and make cyber criminals more likely to look elsewhere, IT must make it a point to regularly:

  • Update intrusion detection policies to be sure they’re properly inspecting, blocking, and altering any and all malicious traffic which targets the corporate network
  • Add or edit access control policies to minimize exposure by ensuring the right people have access to the right parts of the network
  • Set reputation-based blacklisting to limit traffic from high-risk sources, allowing IT to get out in front of known threats
  • Sort through the data these tools are compiling and distill that into information which can be shared with the business–side to help guide future security operations and raise awareness
  • Audit the technologies comprising the security environment to determine whether they’re still meeting the business’ needs or if it’s time for a refresh

A partner in the fight to maintain IT security 

How can IT do all of that, while still finding time for the rest of its workload? The answer: Arraya’s Managed Services for Network Security.

As part of this service, the day-to-day hassles associated with maintaining the business’ security tools shift to our team. Our experts handle the nitty-gritty work of maintaining the security environment. They’ll manage zones, access, policies and generate in-depth reports to keep the business engaged with security. They’ll do all of that while also providing 24×7 monitoring and alert response to threats.

Arraya’s Managed Services for Network Security supports the tools businesses rely on to frustrate and repel hackers, sending them off in search of an easier target. To start a conversation about this offering, please visit: http://www.arrayasolutions.com/contact-us/. Also, our team can be reached through any of our social media accounts: Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Arraya Insights