While the firewall is a fundamental part of protecting the perimeter of an organisation from compromise, it is no longer the only tool that can be relied on against increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals who are using machine learning and artificial intelligence to bypass traditional defences.
Security by design, whether in the cloud or on-premises, becomes a crucial enabler for business protection, says Syrex, a provider of hyperconverged cloud technology solutions in Africa.
Having a fully integrated additional layer of security to enhance existing software and hardware solutions are mission-critical at a time when malicious users are scouting an ever-expanding perimeter for any weak points. Cloud Native Application Protection Platforms (CNAPPs) can significantly reduce risk while maintaining the security of cloud workloads.
Furthermore, this technology delivers the protection essential to secure data transfers between on-premises and cloud environments. By incorporating this on top of a next generation firewall (NGFW), an organisation can combine the capabilities of a myriad of security services to harden their defensive stance against continually expanding threat vectors.
“Solutions that feature data loss prevention (DLP) can pre-emptively protect a business from unintentional loss of valuable and sensitive information. Fundamentally, DLP helps safeguard sensitive data wherever it is going – from remote locations to the cloud or on-premises data centres. Of course, DLP solutions must be user friendly and have a high detection accuracy to ensure companies are protected both from known and unknown threats,” says Ralph Berndt, sales and marketing director at Syrex.
DLP tracks and controls any type or format of sensitive information in motion. This includes email, Web browsing, and file sharing services. Additionally, it educates and alerts users on how to properly handle data without getting IT or security teams involved. This saves valuable resources and improves the effectiveness of the cybersecurity environment.
However, the best DLP solution in the world means very little if it is not easy to use or if it disrupts operations. Organisations need a DLP solution that can consistently discover, monitor, and protect sensitive information. When delivered from a centralised cloud service, the DLP provides comprehensive coverage and unified data protection policies for every location where data is stored, used, or transferred.
Beyond DLP, companies need to consider security solutions that are able to decode cloud and Web traffic to protect against cloud-enabled threats. By hardening the Web gateway environment, a business can unify threat protection with technology that is cloud-aware and cloud-smart to provide security at scale.
“In today’s world of increasing data loss events and data privacy regulations, companies have little choice but to take action to protect sensitive data. The risk of exposure of confidential employee and customer data, legal documents, and intellectual property is high. With a DLP combined with NGFW technology and next generation secure gateways in place, organisations can rest assured they are taking the best steps necessary in defending themselves against an ever evolving cyber threat footprint,” concludes Berndt.
