3 Security Trends for the Channel
As we all know, change is constant — and the myriad of new products and services available to the channel proves that point. Vendors roll out new solutions for their partners to meet the evolving needs of today’s technology landscape at a dizzying pace. But what should we focus on?
My take: Conversations around security and threat intelligence are becoming more prominent for the channel. At this year’s RSA Conference, an annual event that brings together leading security experts and vendors, three trends stood out to me as topics for additional discussion in 2016.
1. Rising Security Costs
Security costs are escalating at rates mimicking healthcare or higher education. Ten years ago, enterprises spent 3 to 6 percent of their IT budgets on cybersecurity. Today, companies spend about 17 percent, on average, with some devoting more than half of their IT budgets to security.
However, throwing more money at this issue isn’t a silver bullet.
I’ve seen organizations take a “patchwork” approach to security, spending a lot to deploy a number of boxes with various threat and alerting functions. While it may seem like a step in the right direction, this tactic, in fact, creates operational complexity and introduces vulnerabilities. Complexity increases risk. What’s needed to protect assets is a simple, unified approach.
Before advising a customer to buy a new security product, step back. Start with a risk assessment. That will help to determine both the type and number of security controls needed. Next, take the time to understand why the customer may be a target and map where sensitive data lives. Evaluate all applications for security. Such an architecture audit should reveal a wealth of knowledge about what needs to be protected first and where the greatest areas of vulnerability lie.
2. Education
The most common attack targets are individuals. Employees pick up USB drives at conferences and plug them into work computers. They click on malicious e-mail links or attachments. They use weak passwords, and they join unprotected public Wi-Fi networks.
I encourage you to help every customer create a personalized cybersecurity safety training that includes these key topics:
- Passwords: This can’t be over emphasized: Having a strong password is akin to locking the car or house door. Don’t choose “password,” “12345″ or your pet’s name. Pick a mix of letters, symbols and numbers.
- Updates versus malware: New computer or phone operating system versions push out security updates to address vulnerabilities. However, sometimes these updates are a mask for malware pop-ups. Educate employees so they know the difference. An update should come from the software directly. Malware may pop up while surfing the Internet.
- Phishing: Phishing emails account for an astounding amount of the malicious traffic we see on our network. Phishing has become very sophisticated. Warn employees never to click a link to an outside site sent via email, even if the company or individual is recognizable. Go through an Internet search browser to reach the site.
- Social media: Warn users that social media accounts are permanent and searchable. Users should understand that the information they decide to share serves as clues that may make them vulnerable to criminals.
- VPN: When connecting to public Wi-Fi, use a private, encrypted VPN connection where possible. Don’t only rely on HTTPS/SSL connections for securing your privacy.
3. Malware Detection Advances
More specifically, new ways of discovering new strains of malware, the development of which I believe is the most “industrialized” aspect of the business of malicious hacking.
Approximately 160,000 new malware strains are released every day. Malware is one of the hardest cyber threats to track, especially with the emergence of new zero-day exploits. A “zero-day vulnerability” refers to an unknown hole in software that can be exploited before the vendor is even aware there is an issue to fix. Zero-day attacks can include infiltrating malware, spyware or allowing unwanted access to user information.
RSA showcased an interesting emerging technology to detect new malware, deception technology. I liken it to a honeypot on steroids. Today, as a security measure, we create honeypots, which can alert us to anomalous traffic on the network. Doing this allows us to examine the traffic in a safe environment outside of the network. Deception technology plants fake data inside legitimate devices, and then tracks the “east to west” movement of malware in an organization, so it can be tracked down before it communicates data to the outside world.
The key lesson here is to think about your customer’s entire security posture. If a threat makes its way into the organization, are there safeguards or checks in place to discover it? Does the in-house or managed security team or have access to threat intelligence reports for the network traffic? If something is discovered, is there a plan in place or a specialist to call for help? All are important questions to ask as you help customers evaluate new solutions.
Security will continue to be a hot topic – and product – for the channel as more and more enterprises realize they need to simplify. With security budgets increasing, encourage customers to consider these three aspects before finalizing their security buys for the year.
Chris Richter is senior vice president of global security services at Level 3 Communications.
