How can you safeguard your network against emerging cyber threats?

Update Regularly cannot be stated enough. The real challenge can be when the business improperly balances "stability" with security. If you've identified this issue, start asking the hard questions. "How impactful would it be to lose remote access for a few days?" "Which departments would be impact the most if they couldn't work?", "Which files would you be most concerned about if a bad actor got their hands on everything?"

Equip yourself with proper and up-to-date knowledge and tools. Conduct regular cybersecurity awareness among your stakeholders. Protect your digital assets and your network through well crafted policies that is aligned with the international cybersecurity standards. Partners only with well established name and reputation.

Perform regular risk assessments to identify potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses in your network infrastructure, systems, and applications. Plan network segmentation to divide your network into smaller, and restrict access based (least privilege). Hardened all network devices, servers, and applications as per best practices/SCD. Deploy advanced threat detection solutions such as EDR, SIEM, Threat Intel. Give cybersecurity training to staff about common cyber threats, phishing attacks, social engineering techniques, and best practices for secure behavior. Maintain an incident response plan that outlines roles, responsibilities, and procedures for responding to security incidents effectively.

When talking of emerging threats, you have to trust your cybersecurity tools/softwares OEMs for updates and keep track on their patch/update issue patterns. Few vendors have pre-decided days for patch releases while few take them out on requirement, so know the details of your vendor and apply updates/patches as and when issued after testing in a sandbox environment.

Absolutamente, mantener el software actualizado es crucial, pero no podemos pasar por alto la seguridad del correo electrónico, que sigue siendo uno de los vectores de ataque más comunes. Aquí es donde entra en juego DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance). DMARC es esencialmente un "parche" para una falla fundamental del correo electrónico: Cualquiera puede enviar correos usando tu dominio. Este protocolo ayuda a las organizaciones a asegurarse de que los correos electrónicos sean auténticos y que los remitentes sean quienes dicen ser, terminando así con el phishing en su nombre y otras formas de abuso del correo electrónico. Solo el correo legítimo es entregado al inbox.

Regular Updates: Keep firewall software current to address vulnerabilities promptly. Default Deny Policy: Block all traffic , allowing only essential connections. IDPS Integration: Enhance firewall with real-time threat detection and prevention. Application Layer Filtering: Control traffic based on specific applications and protocols to prevent unauthorized access. Logging and Monitoring: for meticulous event recording and timely threat detection. VPN Implementation: Encrypt remote connections to safeguard sensitive data. Segmentation and ACLs: Divide the network and enforce granular access controls to minimize risks. Threat Intelligence Integration: Stay updated on threats and automatically block malicious traffic.

To safeguard your network against emerging cyber threats, particularly in Operational Technology (OT), effective network segmentation is crucial. Traditional firewalls form a fundamental layer of protection, essential but not sufficient alone (security onion). They reduce the attack surface by controlling traffic flow between network segments. For tighter security, consider microsegmentation. This approach allows for precise control at the smallest operational levels, enhancing defense against lateral threat movements. Together, traditional segmentation and microsegmentation provide a robust framework to handle the constantly evolving cyber threats in OT environments.

Also look into newer "Zero Trust" solutions with cloud based firewall solutions. These will help when access it no longer about network date in and out of the office you work from. They also offer greater flexibility by focus on access requirements on the application level vs the location of the network you are trying to access.

Firewalls act as a barrier between your internal network and external networks, filtering incoming and outgoing traffic based on predefined security rules. They can prevent unauthorized access to your network and block malicious traffic, thus enhancing network security.

1. Deploy Advanced Firewalls: Utilize next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) for enhanced security features like deep packet inspection, intrusion prevention, and application control. 2. Regular Updates: Ensure firewall software and firmware are consistently updated to protect against newly discovered vulnerabilities. 3. Access Control: Implement strict access controls to regulate who can access network resources. 4. Traffic Monitoring: Continuously monitor network traffic for unusual or suspicious activity. 5. Threat Intelligence: Incorporate threat intelligence to keep firewall rules updated with the latest threat information. 6. Segment Network: Use firewalls to segment network areas, limiting the spread of potential threats.

Be mindful of the impact to the userbase. Not only is checking the sentiment of the team you are supporting important in keeping them happy, but it also identifies policies that may be so restrictive that staff purposely work around the security blocks to be productive. This can lead to greater overall risk to the business.

Configuring your network devices, servers, and software with security best practices in mind is essential for minimizing potential vulnerabilities. This involves disabling unnecessary services, changing default passwords, implementing access controls, and following security guidelines provided by vendors.

Proactive configuration management baselines should be established and applied religiously. Default settings are meant for ease of use, not security. Attackers often rely on these defaults to exploit systems. By customizing configurations, you're not just securing your network, you're also creating a unique security posture that's much harder for attackers to predict and breach.

Securing your system configurations is critical, as default settings are typically not optimized for the highest level of security. It is essential to modify default passwords, disable services that are not required, and restrict user privileges to enhance your network's security. These steps decrease the potential vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit and reduce the overall risk and impact if an intrusion does occur. By tightening configuration settings, you effectively harden your network against unauthorized access and potential security breaches.

El 90% de los ciberataques comienzan con un email de Phishing. Esto es porque es algo muy simple de armar para los ciberdelincuentes, no se necesita ningún tipo de conocimiento técnico. Incluso se pueden adquirir kits completos a muy bajo costo para lanzar campañas de Phishing masivas. Entonces como CISOs es indispensable que contemos con un programa de awareness. Necesitamos involucrar a los usuarios en nuestra estrategia integral de seguridad. Los usuarios son la primera línea de defensa.

Security awareness testing. This includes methods like simulated phishing attacks and security quizzes. A common technique is phishing simulation, where fake phishing emails are sent to employees to test their reactions. These tests are educational and aim to help employees learn to identify and respond to security threats without embarrassment or penalties.

Safeguarding the network against emerging cyber threats through employee training involves several crucial steps. Conduct regular cybersecurity training sessions to keep employees informed about the latest threats and best practices. Implement phishing simulations to help them recognize and respond to phishing attempts effectively. Establish and communicate clear security policies, including guidelines for password management, data handling, and device use. Encourage prompt reporting of suspicious activities with an easy reporting mechanism. Foster a culture of security awareness, emphasizing every employee's role in protecting the network. Making employees proactive defenders significantly enhances network resilience against cyber threats.

Having a solid policy of how employees are to act for cybersecurity is essential. It does not have to become complicated. Use a password manager, use MFA where you can, don't download and especially don't open random files that you are unaware of who it is from, watch for what links you click on and who sent it, and watch for phishing attacks on email. That should cover a lot of employees. Simple yet effective.

Human error is a significant factor in many cybersecurity incidents. Training employees on cybersecurity awareness, best practices, and how to recognize and respond to potential threats can significantly reduce the risk of successful attacks, such as phishing and social engineering.

Monitoring the system behaviour is the only thing which can give some clue as to how the device or network is behaving and if there are any deviations from baseline. Now here entire monitoring depends on your baselines as to what you have selected and how you have selected. if your baseline selection is flawed then your monitoring of network may give false positives etc So monitor well with a carefully selected baseline to observe any signs of cyber threats.

Continuous monitoring of network traffic, system logs, and security events allows for the early detection of suspicious activities or anomalies. Implementing network monitoring tools and establishing procedures for incident detection and response can help identify and mitigate cyber threats promptly.

Continuous network monitoring is key to identifying and responding to potential cyber threats promptly. Utilizing Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) is essential for analyzing network traffic and detecting signs of an attack. These systems are designed to alert you immediately when suspicious activity is detected, allowing for swift action that can prevent an attack from escalating and causing significant damage. This level of vigilance ensures that you are always one step ahead, ready to counteract potential threats before they impact your network's integrity.

Regular data backups are a crucial defense mechanism against ransomware and other cyberattacks that threaten data integrity. It’s essential to ensure that these backups are stored in a secure location, separate from your main network. This separation protects your backups from being compromised in the event of a network breach. By maintaining reliable backups that are not directly connected to your network, you can restore your systems and data without succumbing to ransom demands or suffering significant data loss. This strategy not only preserves vital information but also reinforces your resilience against cyber threats.

To safeguard our network against emerging cyber threats, backing up data is crucial. We can do that by following: 1) Implement regular, automated backups to ensure data integrity and availability. 2) Store backups in multiple locations, including offsite or cloud-based solutions, to protect against physical damage or localized attacks. 3) Encrypt backup data to prevent unauthorized access. 4) Use versioning to keep multiple copies of data, enabling recovery from ransomware or data corruption. 5) Regularly test backup restoration processes to ensure reliability. 6) Integrate backups into a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy, including monitoring, updating security protocols, and employee training.

Using backups can become a easy way to protect yourself from ransom ware or anything that can go wrong with your computer. I use a dock for my laptop that is connected to two separate drives that back up the computer every couple of hours. This gives me peace of mind that if I take my laptop with me and it breaks guess what? I still have at least one backup of it. There is a 3-2-1 rule when it comes to backing up things that matter. 3 copies of your data, 2 types of storage, 1 off-site. What does this mean? 3 copies so one that you use (My hard drive) and 2 backup copies. 2 types of storage, I use a HDD and an SSD. 1 offsite, 1 that is seperate from the others incase of a fire or something that is unseen.

Regularly backing up critical data ensures that you can recover from a cyber attack or data breach with minimal disruption to your operations. Implementing a robust backup and recovery strategy, including off-site storage and regular testing of backups, is essential for data protection and business continuity.

I will conclude the article is by saying that when its about emerging threats for a small organisation its not easy to find out about it in time and then be proactive. Most of the time you will only be reactive. What can make you proactive is by collaborating with various government and commercial organisations which regularly or immediately on occurence of any incident/ likely threat anywhere on globe give out details and how to safeguard against it. Stay in touch with law enforcement agencies, audit organisations, prominent personalities etc as they come to know about emerging threats much earlier then what a common man will come to know, so stay informed by collaboration, networking and interactions.

In addition to all that was mentioned, we could also safeguard a network against emerging cyber threats by adopting zero trust architecture, segmenting the network by isolating sensitive areas of our network with micro segmentation, employ real-time threat intelligence feeds to stay updated on latest attack vectors, malwares, and vulnerabilities that are pertinent to our industry. Furthermore, we could also implement endpoint detection and response (EDR), leverage MFA everywhere, and regularly perform penetration testing. I strongly believe that the additional strategies can further enhance our defenses against the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats.