Electricity + Control September 2017

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12 Electricity + Control SEPTEMBER 2017
“In addition, bear in mind that the world
of technology in a business environment
goes way beyond servers and worksta-
tions, and is now drowning in a flood of mobile
devices and personal applications that today’s
workers deem essential. The ‘BYO’ phenomenon
is here to stay, and organisations wishing to thrive,
need to consider how to protect them, and the im-
pact they can have on enterprise security,” says
Robert Brown, CEO of DRS, a Cognosec company.
Stress on data security
He says these and other issues such as the Inter-
net ofThings and social media are placing a tremen-
dous stress on organisations when it comes to the
control and management of data security. “It’s all
very well having a techie who deals with the daily
‘keeping the lights on’ tasks when it comes to infor-
mation security. This may include telling you which
software to buy, ensuring that back-ups are running
and similar. But add to this the highly complex task
of protecting your business from advanced and
complex threats such as attacks on the network,
social engineering or spear phishing, and they will
quickly become overwhelmed.”
Unless they are in a cycle of continual training
and skills upgrading, they cannot hope to keep
pace with the frequency and strength of attacks,
he says. “Needless to say, this will mean that oth-
er systems are not being maintained.”
Managed security providers
According to Brown, this is where managed secu-
rity providers come in. “Essentially, getting man-
aged services on board means that security ser-
vices are outsourced to experts whose sole focus
is on information security, and who can protect the
organisation with a host of resources and training
at their disposal - more than any one person could
reasonably be expected to provide.”
He says managed security services cover a vari-
ety of things, including ensuring that the latest an-
ti-malware tools are in place, and that workstations
are monitored and cleaned to prevent infections
from spreading through the company network. In
addition, providers will take control of threat man-
agement, using intelligence at their disposal to root
out, protect and mitigate against threats.
Compliance management
Compliance management is another area in which a
managed security services provider can help. “Any
business that handles confidential customer infor-
mation, or financial data, must be up to date with
compliance regulations, which are increasingly strin-
gent and complicated. A provider can help maintain
compliance, as well as instruct the businesses lead-
ers on certificates needed and suchlike.”
Managing network access and control
Brown says that managing network access and
control is another major area that needs profes-
sional expertise. “Keeping threats out without
compromising usability is no easy task. Managing
network access means having a handle on encryp-
tion, endpoints, data leakage prevention, and hard-
ening devices. Firewalls need to be maintained
too, as does network monitoring, and analysis to
pinpoint any anomalous behaviours that might be
indicative of an attack.”
Network protection at all times
Then there’s the question of responding to an in-
cident in the unfortunate event that one occurs.
Someone needs to have a response plan in place
and know exactly what the steps to follow are in
case of a breach. A provider will be able to conduct
forensics, get the correct logs, isolate a particular
machine on the network - and will be available to
do this 24/7, he adds. “With managed security ser-
vices, organisations can enjoy network protection
at all times against threats of all types, without the
distraction, vast expense and complexity of dedi-
cated, in-house technical staff,” Brown concludes.
Managed Security Services
Information provided by DRS, a Cognosec company
Today’s threat landscape has seen a surge in the complexity and sophistication of
cyber threats. Alongside this, security standards are becoming increasingly complex,
and security budgets are shrinking, forcing businesses to try to do more, with less.
CONTROL SYSTEMS + AUTOMATION
Protecting your
business from
advanced and
complex threats
such as attacks on
the network, social
engineering or
spear phishing, is
a highly complex
task.
Managed security ser-
vices entail outsourcing
security services to ex-
perts whose sole focus is
on information security.
Managed security servic-
es ensure that the latest
anti-malware tools are in
place.
With managed security
services organisations
enjoy network protec-
tion at all times, against
threats of all types.
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