The lead speaker for the event, Ande Smith, is President of Deer Brook Consulting. Deer Brook provides information security, privacy, and IT consulting services to government and private sector organizations. Smith spoke to the importance of creating and implementing a successful security program, including:
SE’s Product Manager, Mark Benton, followed Smith discussing a few advancements in security technologies. Benton referenced SE’s Layered Approach to Security (diagram below) which details the various areas of security as well as the technologies needed in each layer to properly secure your network. The orange highlighted defense tactics are ones he focused his presentation on, suggesting that if you’re planning your 2016 security budgets, these are ones you might want to consider investing in.
There have been major advancements in firewall technologies over the past few years including where, when, and how we obtain information on current threats. Firewalls are now smarter, adaptive and can even track what is happening inside your network. However, these are not ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ technologies and for those organizations whose risks do not warrant an advanced firewall, the current batch of Universal Threat Management (UTM) firewalls continue to be a good choice. Key take-away: If your current firewall is five to six years old or more, it’s time to think about upgrading.
Wireless has become a critical service. Most organizations want reliable Wi-Fi connectivity secured for their end-users but also available for employee BYOD devices and visitor use. Segmenting the three audiences is a great way to reduce your risk of infection or breach within your organization. In order to easily do this, cloud managed access point’s (AP) are providing the same benefits as on-premise wireless controllers without the high cost of the controller. So, if you’re thinking about upgrading your wireless in 2016, a cloud managed AP solution is a great option.
Did you answer Yes to any of the questions above? Then consider a MDM/EMM solution.
According to a recent Gartner survey, mobile security has become the number one concern for organizations. While MDM solutions can do a certain amount of device management, sometimes it’s not enough. EMM solutions not only manage devices, they also manage applications and the data on those devices. This allows you to secure corporate data on devices while avoiding the need to completely wipe an employee's personal smart phone or tablet.
It goes without saying that one of an organization’s biggest security risks is human error which makes employees' annual security awareness training a must. It’s also a compliance risk (HIPAA, GLBA, PCI, etc.). According to Verizon, 11% of end-users click on links in phishing emails. At SE, we see the impact of this on our clients regularly. Even with the best technology, human error accounts for 95% of all successful attacks. Once security awareness training is implemented and reinforced with phishing tests, employees will be up-to-date on the latest scams and have the right reflexes when suspicious emails arrive. In addition, training will save your organization an estimated $180 per employee, far more than the cost of training. Make room in your 2016 budgets for this critical layer of security.
If you are a current client looking for assistance with your 2016 IT budget or to receive more information on any of these security solutions, contact your SE Account Manager, or email info@syseng.com.
