FEATURE: NETWORK SECURITY
NICOLAI SOLLING CTO, Help AG
The ingenuity of the modern cyber criminal means that not every security risk can be fixed by tending to these glaring concerns, but these have proved to be the reasons behind the most common attacks we have witnessed in the region. Worse still, it is often unsophisticated attacks that result in data breaches, simply because basic precautions haven’ t been taken.
Other factors Impacting network security Besides the glaringly obvious, though often overlooked, network security shortcomings that organisations fall victim to, there are a number of threats brought on by new technologies and usage behaviours. Among these are the vulnerabilities introduced by endpoint devices. There are a number of integration points between endpoints and other security elements of the infrastructure.
In fact, what we are seeing right now is a race for the endpoint as this is the place where IT teams will be able to understand what actually is happening- traffic will be in clear text in memory and a lot of the inherent issues in perform prevention on the network layer are not present.
The integration between the endpoint and the network security devices is actually the secret sauce as no system can stand on its own. Understanding how open a platform is, and how you can integrate both forensics, reporting and automated response is how you create a real security ecosystem.
Another concern is that even today, we have security vendors which think that they can provide the whole security ecosystem, and therefore create proprietary integration points in their solutions. With the
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nicolai Solling is the CTO at Help AG. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing Help AG’ s professional services, support services and technical vendor management. He has been heavily involved in the design, deployment and operation of some of the most challenging network and security infrastructures for some of the largest enterprise customers in various industry sectors in the Middle East.
He is also a commentator on the region’ s IT security landscape and regularly shares tips and best practices that help businesses and consumers safeguard themselves from cyber threats. www. intelligentcio. com INTELLIGENTCIO
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