EDITOR’S QUESTION
Luke Brown
VP & GM, EMEA, India and
LATAM, Digital Guardian
The majority of breaches are the result of
external attackers attempting to exfiltrate
sensitive data to monetise it for profit. This
was a trend in 2015 with large organisations
being targeted by cyber criminals using
social engineering techniques and exploiting
vulnerabilities found in popular unpatched
software programs.
What we’re seeing now is cyber criminals
becoming more creative by using stolen PII
or credentials from previous data breaches
to create new fraud schemes, such as filing
fake tax returns or committing various forms
of identity theft. We expect to see new
types of monetisation schemes as we move
into 2016.
A key thing to remember is that businesses
are not immune to cyber-attacks. The list
of compromised companies is already long
and growing. While budget and resource
pressures are intense, investing in security
is essential for any modern business but it
will only be effective if they invest in the
right areas.
www.intelligentcio.com
To begin with, system security and data
protection can no longer be ignored. It is
imperative that CIOs take more responsibility
when it comes to data theft - leaving security
vulnerabilities solely to the IT team is no
longer excusable as data theft continues to be
a prominent issue. Threat intelligent services
are likely to be commissioned to provide
reports and validation on malicious threats –
but they are only effective if IT teams can take
action on the intelligence and mitigate the
threat before it becomes a full-scale attack.
Ultimately, the focus on data protection
is going to be paramount for businesses
heading into 2016, and it’s up to them to
ensure that they are prepared. Whether the
attacks be from malicious insiders or external
attackers, the priority must be protecting
organisations’ most sensitive data – since
this is the target all attackers are aiming for.
In addition, focusing on endpoint protection,
disaster recovery and backup applications
that can be easily scaled will significantly
reduce the chance of attacks.
INTELLIGENTCIO
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