Holistic cybersecurity is a way of staying ahead of cybersecurity attacks, one of the biggest challenge for IT teams. As businesses store more information in the cloud, this increases access points through which information can be hacked. Remote work has also resulted in more attacks.
Thus, keeping data compliant and secure in such an environment is a top priority even for the most sophisticated companies. The solution is to create an IT infrastructure that offers a holistic approach to cybersecurity by building in security throughout your hybrid cloud environment and securing the information itself.
Below, we’ll discuss three techniques for shifting your approach to cybersecurity.
Encrypt information at a scale
Encryption renders stolen information useless without the encryption key, making it one of the best ways to protect information. You can use selective encryption to secure certain types of information within specific layers such as the application, disk, data, and database level.
For instance, pervasive encryption allows you to encrypt all business data at rest and in-flight to keep it secured within your environment without expensive application changes. This approach also prepares you to meet compliance mandates.
Build security into your IT stack
While you can work with various third-party vendors to build security into your IT stack, this method compounds the problem that already exists with hybrid cloud as it exposes your network to more potential access points.
Alternatively, you can leverage the expertise, technology, and security of NetworkTigers through our network equipment to enjoy end-to-end security that integrates across your entire stack from security system management to network resources and apps.
NetworkTigers gives you more insight and control into what information is stored and where. This allows you to make sound decisions concerning the measures to take to protect your data by identifying where the data flow is vulnerable.
Protect workloads against cyberattacks with confidential computing
There are numerous advantages of using a hybrid cloud environment. However, this can also cause new risks, including insider attacks from systems and cloud administrators.
The traditional approach for managing IT environments depends on operational assurance, which trusts that administrators will do the correct thing.
But a zero-trust model necessitates that move to technical assurance in which security controls are designed into the technology, making it difficult for administrators to access confidential information within those environments.
The use of trusted execution environments (TEE) to protect confidential information in use can offer companies the technical assurance they need as they plan for the future of information protection in hybrid multi-cloud environments.
How to build a holistic cybersecurity approach
A holistic approach to cybersecurity strategy can be achieved by building a culture of cybersecurity as a shared responsibility, implementing robust infrastructure and effective policies, as well as mixing integrated security techniques.
While it may take a lot of time to identify gaps in the company procedures where cybercriminals can sneak in, businesses should ramp up their defense strategies by instilling transparency over security breaches.
But first, they should build a holistic approach to cybersecurity by:
Defining priorities
The first step for most companies is to decide if offering cybersecurity services internally is a significant part of their business. In some cases, an organization’s top management may suggest that creating their own security team is the best approach due to unique security regulations or needs in their industry.
Keep in mind that there are some businesses that may decide to outsource all of their cybersecurity needs to a security expert, while others may choose to outsource certain functions to supplement their internal teams.
Companies should be honest about whether building an internal security team is crucial. If your company decides to build, you should hire your own security team and set aside the required resources necessary for success.
If not, you should be clear about what you’re going to outsource, and where you’ll get that support.
Find qualified cybersecurity experts
One reason why some organizations opt to outsource cybersecurity services is the challenge of finding and retaining skilled cybersecurity professionals. Small businesses in particular may not be able to find and retain cybersecurity staff that’s talented and affordable.
In addition, these small businesses operate their own cybersecurity teams and may even attempt to cover 7 days a week, 24-hour operations with a few employees.
In such scenarios, burnout is imminent since cybersecurity staff has to mitigate several security alerts in the wee hours of weekends.
Alternatively, while some cybersecurity experts may enjoy a close relationship with the management in smaller businesses, others may find such businesses do not offer the challenge they want. Those experts can leave and look for organizations that provide more challenging tasks.
Build a holistic cybersecurity model
Whether you want to outsource providers or do it yourself, you should choose a comprehensive cybersecurity program. There’s a risk of not being able to prevent attacks before they cause significant damage without a holistic approach.
A well-rounded cybersecurity model includes security tools like vulnerability management, threat detection, a security operation center, device management, application firewalls, and enterprise security monitoring.
Some cybersecurity vendors provide these tools as managed services and work with you to ensure your risk to threats is minimized.
Why the holistic cybersecurity approach is important
A holistic cybersecurity approach is an integral part of an organization’s digitalization. With cyber threats increasing at a rapid pace and data breaches costing a lot of money, companies should make cyber protection a priority.
To achieve this, they should equip themselves with robust cybersecurity tools like SonicWALL Security Appliance Firewalls. These tools provide excellent security and cover all aspects of a business such as processes and employees along with multi-layered security tools and other technology.
