Breaches are inevitable. At least, that’s the philosophy of a strong organizational defense plan. No cybersecurity strategy is foolproof, and it’s better to know how your organization will react if a threat actor gets into your system rather than making it up as it happens. With the right steps in place, many breaches can be neutralized before they cause real damage to your organizations.
There are specific security controls your organization can put in place to help thwart an attacker that gets into your system. Here are four security controls that will help slow and stop an attack.
Email Filtering
Many organizations still rely on email to operate efficiently, and business email compromise (BEC) is big business for cybercriminals. Thousands of phishing emails are sent out daily to organizations across the world, and with the help of AI for better grammar, messaging and design, fake emails are getting harder to spot. Because email has been such a critical business tool for so long, threat actors have also had time to create very powerful malware through email that will put your defenses to the test. Strong email filtering is a security control that will stop phishing emails from landing in employee’s inboxes and tempting them to click that malicious link.
Privileged Session Management
Stealing the credentials of an every-day user will let a threat actor get into your system, but to do the nefarious deeds they want to do—disabling antivirus software or deploying ransomware, for example—they need admin privileges. Privileged Session Management is a security control that focuses on creating a tiered model for these privileges, and making sure the highest level of privileges is saved for the people who control identity and access management. Keeping a threat actor from making themselves an admin is one of the most critical elements to get right in your cybersecurity strategy.
Asset Management
Do you know where your most sensitive data is stored in your system? Better yet, do you have a list of where all your assets are, both physical and digital? The more knowledge you have on the data you are storing, the easier it is to respond to a potential incident. An asset list will help with timely investigations and reporting on progress in the event of a breach. Good asset management can help streamline responsibilities and reduce the impact when your team is under pressure from an attack.
Segmentation and Architecture
Breaching is phase one of a cyberattack. If a threat actor is going to escalate the attack and gain admin privileges or deploy ransomware, they will have to move around inside your network. Having the proper segmentation and architecture is like placing hurdles in your network that the threat actor must jump over to succeed. The more work they have to do, the more noise they are likely to create, raising the chances you will find them before they can do harm. A Zero Trust model should be your go-to, where every transaction is authenticated with who and what the requester is and what permissions they have.
Security Controls to Reduce Risk
Cybersecurity is all about managing risk, and strong security controls will reduce your overall risk profile as well as help you achieve the most cyber insurance coverage at the least cost, which lessens your financial risks. Looking at the spectrum of prevention and impact reduction, we’ve identified 10 security controls that have the potential to reduce risk at every organization, regardless of industry. Read the white paper to learn more.