Doing business in our dynamic, continuously connected world is undoubtedly challenging but incredibly beneficial. Employees can work remotely. Companies reach a multitude of customers all around the globe instantaneously. Work is streamlined and more efficient. Even supply chain management is simplified. Despite all its benefits, however, the threat of a breach or cyber-attack looms over most industries.
One in every five businesses statistically falls victim to a cyber-attack every year. Only 60% of those affected survive. So, what can you do to protect your organization? The answer lies in using advanced protection against cyber attacks and targeted threats. Here are a few reasons to implement such security at your own business:
1. Constant network monitoring
Targeted threats can create a significant pain point for any organization. In an advanced threat situation, hackers specifically target a specific part of an organization’s data, usually financial or customer information.
Data gets hacked for many reasons, but most of the time, financial gain is involved. Often, hackers will steal financial information and sell it online. Vigilance is often the only barrier between a massive data breach and maintaining data security. Implementing a security suite to monitor and actively mitigate threats is essential.
Instead of only watching a few ports and a handful of protocols, an advanced system provides 360-degree oversight against malware, command & control attacks, and hacker intrusions. It’ll even flag things trying to get into your network!
2. Better oversight of employee and contractor devices
As businesses increasingly turn to connected devices for their workloads, the inherent threat of an employee or contractor’s device, leading to a breach increases. It often isn’t intentional; human error can cause some severe problems. Whether it’s a contractor accidentally emailing or uploading proprietary data to the internet or an employee failing to password-protect a database, human error is a simple fact of life in the modern business world.
Luckily, there is a way to at least help better oversee such devices. Implementing powerful advanced threat protection enables you to visualize attacks and impact your devices, considering everything about the attack cycle to minimize or prevent damage stemming from advanced threats against your network.
3. Understanding of possible threats through the incorporation of XDR
One of the most significant issues facing IT departments is the sheer volume of threats and alerts they receive. This effectively creates longer response times, lack of prioritization, and visibility gaps. How can IT professionals determine which events are significant and which are mere “noise?” This is where XDR comes into play.
Threat protection software often incorporates XDR into its detection methods industry-wide. Short for “extended detection and response,’ XDR helps users understand, locate, and handle the litany of ongoing threats businesses face daily. XDR gives users access to the full breadth of data across individual security tools and processes.
With comprehensive analytics and intelligence, XDR can provide a broad view of attacks or events across various security layers. XDR combats the diverse nature of threats with a fast response time.
4. Real-time protection
Speaking of a swift response, using advanced threat protection software helps you monitor potential threats in real-time. The longer it takes to respond to a threat increases the potential damage it causes.
Preventing ransomware (malware that encrypts your data and holds it hostage for a price) and stealthy attacks (malware that hides the hacker’s activity) can make a big difference in protecting your data. Custom sandboxing—isolated virtual testing environments used to test potentially malicious software—takes on most heavy lifting, while XDR and advanced protection respond to these threats in real-time.
This effectively gives your company’s IT department a chance to stop threats before they have an opportunity to cause damage to data or infrastructure.
5. Reduce extra expenses and loss of income
Preventing breaches and other advanced cyber attacks can save your company a significant amount of money over time. Moreover, figuring out which threats are real and how they might affect your system is essential for preventing income or data loss.
If assets are exposed, it’s crucial to determine what happened, what was involved, and how you will go about fixing the problem. With advanced protection, the process gets streamlined and helps you understand how to prevent future issues. Preparing for unique threats through analytics and experience can help save money, avoid loss of income, and ultimately lead to a severe reduction in targeted attacks in the future.
Interesting related article: “What is Cybersecurity?”