The cyber security marketplace continues to evolve & grow, driven by the increasing dependence of businesses on information technology, and the rising number of security and data protection regulations.
The shift of crime online as criminals look to make money from stealing information and committing scams, and the increasing incidence of state-sponsored cyber attacks for a range of reasons, including industrial espionage and the disruption of decisive infrastructure.
With the current cyber threat landscape, it is important to think about how we can protect ourselves from these threats.
It is also important to understand that there are different types of cybersecurity threats and they should be dealt with accordingly:
“The more you can protect yourself, the less chance you have of getting hit.”Cybersecurity is really about having a secure environment for your company and its users.
In order to be able to do that, we need to:
• Understand what exactly are cyber threats and how they work (this will help us identify vulnerabilities)
• Understand the types of threats and how they work (this will help us resolve common problems)
• Secure our data and make it accessible only to authorized people
• Train users on how to use your system effectively.
Cybercriminals carry on professionalizing operations and developing new ways of exploiting vulnerabilities in IT.
Cybercriminals are focusing mainly on new & emerging technologies that organizations are adopting as they embrace digital transformation to cut costs, improve performance and support new business models and income sources to remain competitive.
In terms of marketplace trends for main cyber security technologies, the major single driver of change will be the move to the cloud by organizations seeking to benefit from the flexibility, speed, and possible cost savings of this IT use model.
Central, established cyber security technologies that are core to contemporary, forward-looking cyber security programs are expected to grow & evolve as they continue to fulfill leading roles in cyber defense.
Man makes technology & it is the man who can get the better of this technology. So, no cyber security system is foolproof & can ever be. The clever choice is to continually recognize and adopt developing technologies to fortify cyber security.
Today many big, well-resourced companies are getting hacked despite the most excellent efforts from cyber security specialists on an everyday basis.
This indicates the demand for new technology advancements because the current technologies may be limited or not working.
The attackers have been constantly devising new strategies for launching attacks, which evokes the need for the improvement and evolution of defense capabilities to make sure data integrity in organizations.
The Impact of Cybersecurity on Technology
Cybersecurity is changing technology today, and the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will play a crucial role in this.
AI has the potential to be used to detect security threats and vulnerabilities before they happen, as well as to prevent them from happening in the first place.
“The research by the University of Surrey and security firm FireEye also shows that 83 percent of cyberattacks are due to human error.
A study from Forrester Research found that 92% of companies have been breached in the past three years, with less than half (43%) detecting the attack before it affected their business.
This occurs because cybercriminals use the same techniques to attack large organizations that small businesses use to perform digital analysis.
The Forrester study also found that 52% of respondents said they are less safe than they were three years ago and 70% said their business is likely to be breached in the next 12 months.
“Improved cybersecurity will always require extensive changes to our relationship with technology”.
However, organizations can implement security technology that meets the needs of their customers and provide better customer service to make sure this happens.
Cybersecurity solutions offer the opportunity to create a safer, more secure and better-connected business.
However, there is still a risk of organizations falling victim to hackers, which was one of the main reasons why businesses are looking for cybersecurity solutions.
The Forrester study also said that organizations need to be willing to invest in these cybersecurity services because they can help them avoid getting hacked by hackers.
Here are the Few Examples of How Cyber Security is Changing Technology Today
Artificial Intelligence & Deep Learning
Artificial Intelligence is fairly a buzzword these days. Ever wondered how one can use AI for cyber security? Well, the application is in a way parallel to the working of two-factor authentication.
2FA works by confirming a user’s identity based on 2-3 diverse parameters. The parameters are something they know, are & have. Add to that added layers of information and authentication, and that is where AI comes into the view.
Deep learning is being used to examine data such as logs, transactions, and real-time communications to identify threats or unnecessary activities.
Behavioral Analytics
With the whole Facebook Data Breach fray, one is well conscious of the use of data mining for behavior analysis. This technique is extensively to target social media and online ads to the right set of audiences.
Interestingly, behavior analytics is being increasingly discovered to develop advanced cyber security technologies.
Behavioral analytics helps decide patterns in a system & network activities to sense potential and real-time cyber threats.
For example, an abnormal increase in data communication from a certain user device could point out a possible cyber security issue.
While behavioral analytics is generally used for networks, its application in systems and user devices has witnessed an upsurge.
Defensive Artificial Intelligence
Shield-check icon Cyber Security experts can utilize defensive artificial intelligence (AI) to detect or stop cyber attacks.
Experienced cybercriminals use technologies like offensive AI & adversarial machine learning because they are harder for traditional cybersecurity tools to identify.
Offensive AI includes deep fakes, false images, personas, & videos that convincingly depict people or things that never occur or do not exist.
A malicious user can use adversarial machine learning to trick machines into malfunctioning by providing them with incorrect data.
Cybersecurity experts can use defensive AI to sense and stop offensive AI from measuring, testing, and learning how the system or network works.
Defensive AI can strengthen algorithms, making them harder to break. Cyber security researchers can carry out harsher vulnerability tests on machine learning models.
Embedded Hardware Authentication
A PIN & password are no longer enough to provide foolproof protection to hardware. Embedded authenticators are growing technologies to confirm a user’s identity.
Intel has started a major breakthrough in this field by introducing Sixth-generation vPro Chips.
These authoritative user authentication chips are embedded into the hardware itself. Intended to revolutionize ‘authentication security’, these employ numerous levels and methods of authentication working in tandem.
Blockchain Cyber security
Blockchain cyber security is one of the newest cyber security technologies that are gaining momentum and recognition.
Blockchain technology works on the basis of recognition between the two transaction parties. Equally, Blockchain cyber security works on the basis of blockchain technology’s peer-to-peer network fundamentals.
Zero-Trust Model
As the name itself states, this kind of cyber security is based on the consideration that a network is already compromised. By believing that one cannot believe the network, one would clearly have to enhance both ‘internal’ & ‘external’ securities.
The root here is that both inner and outer networks are susceptible to a compromise and require equal protection.
It includes knowing business-critical data, mapping the flow of this data, logical & physical segmentation, and policy and control enforcement through automation and stable monitoring.
Cybersecurity For Organizations
The most secure way to protect yourself is to make sure that your organization has strong security policies and procedures in place. This will help you prevent your company from being vulnerable to cyber threats and attacks.
Another important thing you should do is to also have a good security awareness program for your users. The better you can train people, the less chance they will fall victim to cyber threats.
You should always train your staff members and help them understand that they need to be cautious when dealing with the Internet. This will protect them from cyber threats, such as ransomware.
If there are any critical data and files on the computer, you should set up a business backup system, which is ready to help you avoid or lessen the consequences of computer system crashes or malicious attacks
The backup solution should also be backed up regularly to ensure the security of your data, especially if you store important data like credit card information on your computers.
