There is a dire need for enterprise security technologies at present as the world is facing cyber attacks like never before. The advancement in technology, along with its fruits, also brings thorns and poisonous weeds to deal with. Unless you are cautious, you will end up being stung by a thorn or entangled by the weeds.
The last decade has seen many advancements in technology that penetrated our lives and became a daily routine so quickly. Technologies like digital payments, online transactions, Internet of things have made tremendous advancements in recent times. With the ease of using these technologies, they have become popular, and now every enterprise has to either embrace them and incorporate them into their business or lag behind and perish.
This is where the threat quotient has increased. Previously, enterprises used to secure data on-premises using servers and have enterprise data security solutions in place to protect those servers. But today’s technology demands businesses to be inter-connected – be it with vendors, distributors, supply chain logistics and even the workforce has to be distributed across different locations, thanks mostly to the pandemic which promoted the “work from home” culture, and the employees have to work virtually from various locations! The data is no longer stored in one place but is distributed across various cloud platforms and this virtual environment has made the attack surface much wider and open to attacks.
As enterprises are still struggling to adapt to the accelerated changes in technologies, hackers at present are having a field day attacking weak and vulnerable networks using new and improved weaponry. The old enterprise data security solutions have now become redundant and businesses have to adopt emerging cyber security technologies to protect their data and various IT assets.
Enterprise Security Technologies
Enterprise security technologies are an amalgamation of various techniques, strategies, and processes to secure an enterprise’s information, data, and other digital assets not only on premises but also across connected servers, networks, and users against any type of cyber attack that may compromise the confidentiality, integrity of the system, and loss of valuable data.
Enterprise security technologies involve securing all aspects of an enterprise from end to end and many emerging enterprise security trends help businesses secure their enterprises. Below are some of the enterprise security technologies you need in 2022.
1. AI & Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are one of the most powerful tools to tackle cyber breaches and threats. These are one of the best emerging enterprise security trends now. The humongous data that is being accumulated by every enterprise can be used for statistical analysis by the machines and using regression techniques combined with artificial intelligence, any anomalies, and vulnerabilities in the system can be detected and can be acted upon automatically in real time.
Machine learning can also be used for behavior analytics to detect unusual and unexpected network activity which can be tackled by avoiding zero-day security threats. AI & ML, if used judiciously, can provide proactive defense against most cyber threats such as DDoS, malware, spam, and bot attacks. AI & ML have already made an impact in defending the financial services sector and now enterprises are harnessing their ability in other sectors too.
2. Zero Trust
“Never trust, always verify” is the motto behind the zero trust architecture which is one of the popular enterprise security trends nowadays. Zero trust is a cyber security tactic where security is applied based on the context and access controls are given based on various authentication levels. Access policies are applied based on the users, roles, and sometimes even location and the devices they are using.
By eliminating default access and even restricting access based on the context, unauthorized breaches can be avoided, and since this is where most of the attacks originate, zero trust can be an effective enterprise data security solution in preventing cyber attacks.
3. Security as a Service, SECaaS
Security as a service is one of the promising emerging cyber security technologies, especially for small and medium-sized businesses that can’t afford the infrastructure to set up an in-house security service. Security as a service allows outsourcing the security of an enterprise to a third party both for local and cloud platforms.
Several benefits can be reaped by employing the services of a SECaaS provider. Apart from increased security, SECaaS also saves time as it is now the responsibility of the SECaaS team to take care of your enterprise’s security, updates, and monitoring. Small and medium businesses and SMBs can save a lot of money through SECaaS as it is comparatively less expensive considering the cost of a separate expert security team, their maintenance, security software, and hardware.
4. Encryption & Tokenization
Data, whether it is at rest, in motion, or in use should be protected at all costs. Even though this technology is there before, it is constantly evolving and is one of the emerging cybersecurity technologies to look out for. In today’s world, every business has to deal with sensitive data all the time and any breach of it can be hazardous to both the business and its customers.
The best way to protect the data, especially the one that is in motion or in use, is encryption and/ or tokenization. Encrypting the data is carried out using a mathematical encryption algorithm to transform plain data into cipher text and a key is used to decrypt the same on the other end. In tokenization, a token value is randomly generated for the plain text and the mapping is stored in the database. Tokenization is generally used to protect credit card data and other sensitive information like bank account details by the payment processor.
5. Blockchain
Blockchain is a unique technology that creates an impenetrable wall between the data and the breachers. It is impossible to penetrate blockchain data and modify it. Blockchain technology is a decentralized, distributed ledger system where all the members or nodes, as they are called, have access to record and pass along any encrypted transactional data.
The distributed nature of the blockchain prevents all possible points of failure that can expose critical data and provides no hackable inlet into the system. The most salient feature of the blockchain, apart from security, is the transparency it offers. Blockchain ledgers are transparent as any changes made are documented preserving trust and integrity. As digital assets are decentralized in a blockchain, this allows real-time accessibility, transparency, and governance amongst more than one entity. Any business enterprise can use blockchain technology, which is more secure as it comes with inherent security.
6. Awareness
This is perhaps the most neglected and often overlooked aspect of cyber security. Errors and lapses on the part of humans remain the most significant factor for most of the data breaches all over the world even today. This is basically due to a lack of awareness and education on the possible threats amongst the users as well as the workforce handling sensitive data.
As more and more businesses are succumbing to cyber attacks, awareness, and education on security threats and basic precautions to safeguard the data against such attacks are gaining momentum. No matter how sophisticated your firewalls are, no matter how up-to-date your cyber security system is unless the users and the employees handling the important data are well aware of the threats and exercise caution, a business is always more prone to cyber-attacks.
There are many emerging cyber security technologies being introduced every day and the above are only some of the enterprise security trends that are going to play a significant role in the cyber security of an enterprise in the near future and are here to stay!
