What is on the cyber security horizon in 2016?

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://www.itproportal.com/2016/01/25/what-is-on-the-cyber-security-horizon-in-2016/

The scale and cost of security breaches has nearly doubled over the last
year, according to recent findings from PWC.

In fact, a shocking 9 out of 10 large organisations now admit to suffering
some form of security breach. Companies need to know what to do to mitigate
this risk and how to quickly respond to contain the damage breaches like
these cause when they do happen. In light of the evolving threat landscape,
Darran Rolls, Chief Technology Officer at SailPoint takes a look at the
year to come with his three big predictions for enterprise security:

1. Businesses will evolve from network-centric to user-centric security

With data breaches on the rise, it is clear that today’s network-centric
security is necessary but insufficient in helping today’s businesses stay
secure. Disruptive technologies like cloud and mobile have changed the way
users work and share data beyond the perimeter of the enterprise. At the
same time, hackers have increased their focus on the human attack vector,
targeting their attacks on employees, contractors, partners and the entire
supply chain of business execution. Often these attacks take advantage of
basic flaws in the execution and control of account and password management
processes to gain access to legitimate accounts and systems for illicit
purposes.

In order to prevent or minimise data breaches tied to insider accounts and
access, it is critical that businesses adopt a user-centric approach to
security in 2016 and beyond. That means leveraging a comprehensive approach
to identity and access management programs to ensure a single, unified view
into and automated control over all applications, all users and all access.

2. Consumer data breaches affect enterprise security posture

Seemingly benign consumer-facing data breaches are exposing organisations
to increased risk. Just look at the Ashley Madison attack from this year.
Many of the site’s registered users signed in with corporate email
addresses – and it has been shown that many of those users employed the
same password across personal and professional applications. This put their
employer’s data at risk when their consumer-facing credentials were exposed.

Every consumer breach potentially exposes unrelated organisations in this
same way, and hackers are very aware of that. Businesses must go forward
this year prepared to respond with user education and rapid remediation
when breaches are publically reported. Employees need to know the
importance of not reusing passwords across applications and systems.
Further, when the next big consumer data breach does happen (and we know
that it will), enterprises must respond quickly to assess the risk posed to
their internal business operations, and respond appropriately.

3. Security focus turns from prevention to detection and response

As a security community, we’re also experiencing a shift in overall focus
from prevention to detection and response. As we continue to move towards a
user-centric security model, it’s our job to manage the relationships
between accounts, access and data. Understanding and managing these
relationships is critical to overall situational awareness and security
threat detection. Identity management also provides the technical
capability to rapidly respond to a security situation by changing or
revoking the access for any user or any privileged system account.

These IAM controls are therefore a critical ingredient in an effective
security program that strives to more rapidly detect vulnerabilities and
breaches, and effectively respond to limit exposure.

Businesses must now stay ahead of the game

Businesses are running fast, and IT organisations in 2016 have to be three
steps ahead. That means rolling out enabling technologies like single
sign-on, strong multi-factor authentication, password management tools and
employing good account management practices that automatically revoke
access when it’s no longer needed. With an ever-increasing acceptance of
mobile BYOD and everything it entails, IT departments must also employ this
technology to ensure they are supporting employees while simultaneously
managing the IT risks associated with an evolving mobile landscape.

If the increasingly frequent news of large-scale data breaches has proven
anything for businesses in 2015, it’s that there is no longer a question of
whether an organisation will be breached, but rather how and when.

By using identity and access management systems that put identity at the
centre of the security strategy, enterprises can enhance their threat
detection capabilities and lower their overall attack surface. With
executives, board members, consumers, employees and partners unified in
their concern over security controls, companies that proactively build on
internal identity management will come out on top in 2016 and beyond.

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