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Business Resilience
Q&A
Q&A with Robert Herjavec Mediaplanet spoke with cybersecurity expert and CEO of Herjavec Group, Robert Herjavec, to discuss the importance of cyber resilience and how the cybersecurity landscape has changed over the past year. What business priorities have the unprecedented disruptions caused by the pandemic brought to the forefront? Today, cybersecurity must be a leading business priority for companies of any size. Whether you’re selling custom T-shirts on Shopify, or you’re the largest online retailer in the world, all businesses are vulnerable to data breaches and malware. I went on the record this past January saying that this will be the year we look back on in terms of the heightened impacts of nation-state attacks and emerging threats — and boy was I right! Targeted attacks like those against the SolarWinds supply chain and the Colonial Pipeline were only the beginning. The cybersecurity challenges we continue to face in 2021 have been varied, frequent, and demanding.
With the increased digitization of business operations, and so much of the workforce now working remotely, how has the role of cybersecurity changed? The traditional cybersecurity perimeter has disappeared. The new edge of the network is the individual, and protecting that identity is critical to your cybersecurity infrastructure. Now, as companies have transitioned to more of a digital business model, data is being generated and shared both internally and externally at a rapid pace without the traditional defences in place. Excessive employee access is one of the fastest-growing unmanaged risks to the protection of critical enterprise data.
Identity and access management (IAM) has become a top priority for cybersecurity. It helps enterprises proactively reduce the risk of security breaches and protect corporate data in order to safeguard their business’ reputation, legal responsibilities, and financial well-being.
How can organizations ensure that the right people are accessing the right data at the right time as their digital footprint becomes more complex? IAM is key! We’ve seen this need increase across our client base at Herjavec Group. Cloud-based work and online accessibility are now essential, and it’s not just internal teams that are accessing your network. Clients, vendors, and partners require it, too, which is why establishing a strong identity governance program is crucial. Identity Governance is one of the pillars of IAM that allows your cybersecurity team to decide who has access to what and when — a critical capability when you have internal and external parties requiring access to different parts of your enterprise network. Creating a common and mutually understandable process and language of access between your IT team and other business departments will reduce risks and improve your security posture to handle a growing digital footprint.
What can organizations do to prepare against cyber threats and protect their data before they find themselves under attack? The absolute worst time to decide how to handle an incident is AFTER it occurs — you have to plan ahead. The pandemic drastically affected the way cybersecurity professionals detect, manage, respond, and secure.
Prioritizing cybersecurity isn't optional. It's your obligation as a business leader to secure your mission-critical assets, your employee data, and your customer data — full stop. In order to do this, you have to balance your security environment with preventative and defensive security measures, which include gaining visibility across endpoints, regularly scanning your network, and leveraging third-party support in the form of managed security services: both managed detection and response and incident response services.
Ransomware has been a hot topic recently. Why has it been so prevalent and what can organizations do to protect themselves?
Cybercrime and cybersecurity are in a constant battle — both sides are always working to outwit the other! Unfortunately, one way cybercriminals have attempted to find success is by taking advantage of vulnerable situations like the COVID-19 pandemic. Simple but sophisticated tactics like phishing emails that prey on the anxiety surrounding the coronavirus and remote work environments connected to unsecured networks have caused the frequency and cost of ransomware attacks to skyrocket. Herjavec Group’s Threat Hunting Services team recently analyzed the most active ransomware operations and reported on the highest-impact adversaries in the State of Ransomware in 2021 Report. According to the report, the best way to defend your enterprise from a breach is to start with implementing proper IAM protocols, leveraging privileged access management best practices, and educating your team on how to identify spam and phishing emails and what to do when they receive them.
Publisher: Michael Taylor Business Development Manager: Julia Colavecchia Country Manager: Nina Theodorlis Content and Production Manager: Raymond Fan Designer: Filip Jansky Web Editor: Karthik Talwar All images are from Getty Images unless otherwise credited. This section was created by Mediaplanet and did not involve National Post or its editorial departments. Send all inquiries to ca.editorial@mediaplanet.com.
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