Cyber attacks may be waiting just around the corner. Hackers today are ready to quietly steal crucial data from your network in just a few clicks. Sophisticated networks provide great hiding places and many businesses are slow to detect breaches.
Hackers are beginning to use more covert methods to infiltrate even highly secure networks. It’s time for businesses to take preventative steps against cybercrime activity. Here’s how to improve threat awareness, detection, and threat mitigation.
Understanding Today's Cyber Threat Landscape
One of the most valuable commodities today is data. Financial data, Personal Health Information (PHI), and other types of critical information can be used to commit fraud, theft, and similar crimes. As quickly as security providers are discovering threats, new ones are created by hackers with cutting-edge technology. This requires companies that store sensitive data to take extra precautions to keep client data safe, as well as their own.
Cybersecurity Threat Predictions for 2022
Every expert understands that cyber security threats are rapidly evolving. This means every company must put effort into strengthening its network security.
Potential threats in 2022 and beyond may include more targeted and sophisticated ransomware attacks, stealth data breaches, and the increased targeting of tablet and smartphone devices. Healthcare providers and financial institutions are likely to continue to be targeted, due to the plethora of confidential records and larger clientele.
Reactive Security vs. Proactive Threat Hunting
To best protect your network, you should understand the difference between reactive and proactive security.
What Is Reactive Security?
When a cyber attack occurs, your team responds as quickly as possible to the breach. Once the threat is identified and neutralized, the damage can be assessed, and the cleanup process can begin. This is reactive security.
While reactive security is a critical component of your overall cybersecurity strategy, this can become an issue if it’s all the security you have. Your threat hunting culture is limited to searching for malware after damage may have already been inflicted or data has already been stolen.
What Is Proactive Threat Hunting?
Security measures taken prior to an attack is called proactive threat hunting. This means your staff is more focused on preventing risks instead of simply responding to them after the fact. It entails putting a strong defensive posture in place, training your staff on safe cyber practices, and preparing for dangers your company hasn’t yet faced.
A proactive cybersecurity team recognizes that threats are constantly evolving, and a business simply cannot be prepared for all of them. Then, various cybersecurity strategies are implemented to regularly scan for potential threats before an attack occurs.
Some proactive cyber defense and assessment methods include:
- Risk assessment. A cybersecurity risk assessment analyzes the different data assets that might be impacted by a cyber strike. This includes but isn’t limited to hardware, software, computer systems, mobile devices, intellectual property, and client data. Then, risks that may affect those assets are identified.
- Penetration testing. This is one of the most important proactive cyber security methods. It systematically tests your network for potential weaknesses, letting you know of gaps in your security.
- Threat intelligence. Information on potential threats that aids in the mitigation of security incidents in cyberspace is referred to as cyber threat intelligence. This can include information from humans, social media platforms, technology, and even information from the dark web.
Benefits of proactive cybersecurity include, but aren't limited to:
- Your staff doesn’t have to constantly put out fires. For security personnel, being reactive is often tiring. If your business is unprepared for a cyber threat, your team will be frantically moving from one problem to the next. Proactive security means taking time out to plan ahead for potential threats and developing swift, efficient mitigation tactics.
- Identify errors in your infrastructure. Reactive security does not help a company identify areas of concern before an attack, particularly areas holding sensitive data. Part of a proactive approach is discovering weaknesses in your infrastructure and determining the best method to block attacks or manage a breach before an event occurs.
- Boost compliance. Adopting proactive security measures implies your company has several layers of protection in place. It means your business identifies risk, does risk analysis, and mitigates risk using industry best practices. Because these levels of protection are required by many regulatory systems, your company is more likely to comply when using proactive security methods.
How to Enact Proactive Cybersecurity Methods
NetQuest can help your Security Operations Center become more proactive through real-time network monitoring, delivering powerful Indicators of Compromise (IoC) to your threat analytics tools to help identify threats before they become breaches.
Learn more about proactive threat hunting and get help developing reliable, effective network security for your business. Contact NetQuest today by calling 1-856-866-0505.