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Protecting the enterprise from evolving cybercrime attacks
In the past couple of years we have seen devastating attacks on the likes of JP Morgan Chase, Target, and MasterCard. These incidents compromised personal and financial data relating to tens of millions of customers. The most recent attack in the spotlight was that of Sony, involving the theft of critical data, and the leaking of confidential information.
In the US, President Obama recently highlighted the threat of cyber-security in destabilising corporations, and even entire nations, while shifting the issue of cybercrime to the top of his agenda for 2015.
Internal threat
These events have left local chief information officers (CIOs) wondering how they can protect their organisations from modern cybercrime tactics. However, while creating strong defenses against external threats is important, our recent In2IT survey revealed that 60% of security threats actually come from those inside the organisation.
This is a startling figure that many companies are loath to accept. However, the reality is that employees are the biggest source of malicious activity and confidential data leaks today. Vulnerability assessments, penetration testing, and security policies must all respond to the internal, as well as the external, threats.
South African companies also tend to suffer from a false perception that the threats and risks are minimal. While that may have been the case a few years ago, today the reality is that cybercrime is 100% global.
However, what can local firms do to shore up their defenses against the latest cyber criminal activity?
Security breaches cause the erosion of trust and customer confidence; they have a massive impact on the health of the brand and may well present direct financial consequences to organisations and their customers.
South Africa will certainly not be immune to the next wave of cyber-attacks. If some of the world's most prestigious financial organisations can fall victim to this form of crime, then the defenses used by many local companies will not withstand even the most casual attempt.
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