Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 45 | Page 53

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// I CANNOT EMPHASISE HOW IMPORTANT IDENTITY HYGIENE IS IN OUR CURRENT THREAT LANDSCAPE. be done at any connection to your networks and applications – this is why we have NAC, VPN and identity access management solutions which validate not just the user but also the security of the device before granting connection. personal devices. BYOD is well established in many organisations but the security challenges never get old. BYOD moves, or even eliminates, the security perimeter. It used to be that you could not do work unless you were in the building at your desk. RABIH ITANI, REGIONAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER – SECURITY, MIDDLE EAST AND TURKEY AT ARUBA, A HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE COMPANY The desktop environment could be locked down. But with BYOD, malware can walk in through the front door on a personal device and then gain access to the corporate network. And what’s more, business data and personal information are both being sent across the same networks. Second, many enterprise applications are consumed directly from the cloud. These direct-to-the-Internet pathways don’t pass through the traditional enterprise network protections and create new risks that old tools can’t address. important identity hygiene is in our current threat landscape. Passwords should always be unique but your most sensitive identities, including your corporate services, should also be backed up by a second factor. Most security technologies deployed today are perimeter-based and not designed for cloud-oriented threats. Endpoint robustness and limiting user rights It’s clear that deploying the same security on endpoints and remote users is very challenging. Therefore, it is important to understand the various endpoint vulnerabilities. I find that too many organisations deploy new endpoint solutions without validating whether they achieved the goal of securing the end devices. You also need to understand that attacks are constantly changing, so validating how your systems hold up against new attacks is important. What is important to know is that while you may not always be able to uncover vulnerabilities, the correct configuration and security applications can make it exponentially more difficult to exploit those that do exist. Also, why not get your endpoint tested by the experts with a service such as penetration testing? FEATURE: BYOD Third, the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) is bringing thousands of often inherently insecure sensors and other devices into corporate networks. These devices may be on movable equipment, attached to a company’s building, or given to employees. Rabih Itani, Regional Business Development Manager – Security, Middle East and Turkey at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company Today’s collaborative digital workplaces have resulted in a vanishing perimeter. First, Wi-Fi networks have moved the network perimeter beyond the building perimeter. In the past, employees and visitors had to pass through security to enter a building and use its network. But Wi-Fi extends the network perimeter into parking lots, across streets and even into other buildings. In addition, many of today’s mobile workers are using their own Driven by the demands of enterprise mobility, BYOD, cloud and IoT, Aruba saw the need for a different design approach to connecting and securing networks. Aruba is now changing the paradigm with the Aruba 360 Secure Fabric, an enterprise security framework that gives security and IT teams an integrated way to gain back visibility and control. It allows you to detect gestating attacks with machine-learned intelligence and proactively respond to these advanced cyberattacks across any infrastructure – with the enterprise scale to protect millions of users and devices and secure vast amounts of distributed data. n Constant security validation A final thing that I also recommend CISOs look at is how they validate the security of their remote users. Since we know that this user group is more exposed, it is important that you validate the integrity of the endpoint constantly. This could for instance www.intelligentcio.com TODAY’S COLLABORATIVE DIGITAL WORKPLACES HAVE RESULTED IN A VANISHING PERIMETER. INTELLIGENTCIO 53