Recently, research studies concluded that almost 80% of organisations have experienced a threat to their cybersecurity, and the number has escalated significantly after the arrival of COVID-19. Organisations did not get much time to establish secure connections for employees working from home during the pandemic; hackers found these vulnerable points which resulted in increased cyberattacks. Hackers are targeting the public as well as private sectors. Major cyberattacks such as the colonial pipeline attack in the USA have motivated other nations to strengthen their security networks. Such incidents led businesses to develop robust security posture to prevent cyber attacks. It is the foremost responsibility of a business to take preventive steps towards their security posture, as with increased technology, cybercriminals are also becoming active more than ever.
The Metaverse Threat
The metaverse is the future, it could be the amazing reason behind the evolution of the internet, a digital world wherein people will communicate as 3D avatars. With such revolutionising technologies, we will need to enhance the security and infrastructure of our organisations around these new virtual worlds. A virtual reality headset is an easy tool to access a user’s data. A robust security network is required to make emerging digital platforms safe, such as the Internet Of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR). Even a very simple mistake in your code can emerge as an easy gateway for cybercriminals, and in an extremely spontaneous technological world, each movement creates a threat for data stealing. With the metaverse in its nascent levels, its achievement will affect the practical adoption of cryptocurrency. NFTs (Non-fungible tokens) are used to refer to the risks posed to a person’s real-life wealth, identity, and personal information. Working towards minimising these emerging massive attacks from the ground should be a priority right now.
Gaps in Cybersecurity Management
Many organisations are falling behind in considering cybersecurity seriously and as a result we get to see numerous cyberattacks every year. Lack of a properly designed cybersecurity management plan can lead to disastrous consequences for any business for that matter. Establishing robust security posture is a multidisciplinary approach that requires strong communication between the IT team and other departments. Although patching through multiple departments for documentation and implementation can be hectic, it is still crucial. IT teams usually don’t have much knowledge about the libraries, components, and tools currently being used and they might hinder the working of the application unknowingly. As a result, they are asked to stop working if the application goes down. Strict deployment rules come in their way to prevent longer application downtime. Companies should put patching in their priority tasks to tackle future security failures, besides defined workflow legislation. The use of preventive software such as anti-virus and anti-malware is non-negotiable when it comes to the security of an organisation; ‘because prevention is better than cure’.
Architectural security
Lack of appropriate training is one of the main reasons for the collapse of an architectural security system. A suggested way to tackle the issues related to the adoption of critical platforms and critical infrastructure of an organisation is to use Open system architectures. Such issues relate to the increased time for introducing advanced complex systems at a rate that can catch up with fast-growing technological advancements. Open system architecture helps mitigate various architectural issues but at the same time is also responsible for compromising the cybersecurity of an organisation. Although open system architecture has its own advantages, they affect a system’s ability to maintain cyber resilience. Typically, such concerns are related to the usage of open interfaces- Management of dynamic networks, process maturity, and the capability for structures to adapt to rising cyber threats. The focus should be on the usage of a projected lifecycle to find out the most ideal architecture and reap the benefits of all techniques. There’s an increased need for skilled security teams and developers to fight against bugs in common security codes. Despite the current efforts of developers, there are huge gaps in architectural security.
It is critical that developers are well-versed with the approximate dangers of threat modelling and should be backed up by the security team, so that they are able to understand better about threats until they are entirely skilled in the cyber security systems of their organisation. There is still a gap in the knowledge of software engineers about cybersecurity which makes it a collective responsibility of the rest of the teams in an organisation to assist them in creating a positive security culture.
Multi Factor Authentication
Two-factor authentication (2FA), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), Two-Step Factor Authentication- You might have heard these terms various times and they all have the same meaning. Authentication is performed as an extra step of security by trusted websites and applications to confirm a user’s identity. Passwords are usually easy to crack by hackers, posing a threat to your account’s security. Banks, social media, and workplace accounts ask for verification to make sure that you are the only one accessing your account. They perform a two-step authentication process to double-check security by asking for additional information with your password such as the answer to your security question, a pin sent to your mobile number, a confirmation text sent to your phone, fingerprint, face id, etc. 2-step authentication is difficult for hackers to crack and fake, thus preventing cybercrimes. Become aware of the multifactor verification processes conducted by various organisations and start incorporating them in your workplace accounts and financial services.
Cybersecurity: A Collective Responsibility
Cybersecurity is an important aspect of any organisation and is yet often ignored by many companies. Security teams should not be blamed if the business leaders themselves are not giving enough importance to cybersecurity. Leaders should act responsibly with regards to the security of their company by implementing and following well-laid guidelines depicting rules and regulations to be followed to strengthen security posture. Business owners should be in charge of establishing communication between different teams and departments as securing the environment is a collective responsibility of every single person included in the processing. After leaders, comes the responsibility of staff to follow rules laid down for a resilient security posture. Leaders and senior staff are easy targets for cybercriminals because they know bosses have all the data required to threaten an organisation and that too is often stored without taking proper security measures. Ransomware is a trending way of duping big organisations with a huge amount of money by encrypting their essential data.
Conclusion
Speedy adaptation of virtual technologies facilitates putting into effect new and attractive business models and strategies. However, each technology poses some dangers and cyber assaults are among the biggest potential threats. We have to be well-prepared with adequate tools and clear guidelines to face the upcoming challenges to our cybersecurity posture.
