Advanced Protection Tools Needed to Combat Today’s Sophisticated Cyber Threats

Advanced Protection Tools Needed to Combat Today’s Sophisticated Cyber Threats ITSW

The picture of the cybersecurity landscape is evolving quickly – it may be too fast for IT teams to keep up the pace

Organizations are moving to next-generation cybersecurity solutions in 2020, but security fragmentation is slated to be a huge threat. A report by security firm Cynet predicts security trends for 2020, saying that most firms are prioritizing an advanced rollout of cyber protection solutions this year. Such superior protection solutions will include SEIM software, EDR/EPP products, and network traffic analytics which act as an additional layer of protection, going beyond firewalls and antivirus software.

Dealing with Cybersecurity Fatigue?

These next-generation security products focus on fighting modern security threats, but the mere addition of more security products doesn’t necessarily make security professionals feel at ease. In fact, 60% of the respondents plan to add some form of breach prevention measures in 2020. Out of this 60%, almost three-fourths are not planning to add more software as they are already finding it challenging to manage the existing cybersecurity software.

Seventy-eight percent of respondents confirmed that the maintenance management and operational overhead of their current security products is the major obstacle to cybersecurity. These numbers are not at all promising for the cybersecurity world. Adding new security products won’t improve protection if firms are operating in separate ecosystems without proper communication. Lack of consolidation is a widespread issue, and experts often view it as a core problem that needs urgent resolution.

Fragmented security software is the biggest challenge, but it’s questionable whether or not centralized systems could actually resolve the most significant threats. The most significant three threats that respondents cited for 2020 are:

  • Ransomware (71%)
  • Weaponized email attachments and links (74%)
  • Browser-based password hijackers and Banking Trojans (67%)

All these three problems are severe, but it’s debatable whether they can be solved by adding SEIM, EDR/EPP, and network traffic analysis on top of traditional security products.

Attacks targeting web browsers need not infiltrate a network; weaponized email attachments can affect an individual machine and cause significant damage without alerting traffic analysis. Ransomware can come from different sources and lock down a system without raising alarms until it’s too late.

Women Power Increases in Cybersecurity Skills

That leaves cybersecurity professionals in a complicated position in 2020: Fragmented security software is going to make networks vulnerable, and adding additional tools that don’t communicate with existing ones will only make it more difficult for IT to keep up with already taxing cybersecurity workloads.

In 2020, cybersecurity professionals shouldn’t focus solely on software as the most widespread threat still remains human mistakes and oversight. A good cybersecurity posture includes consolidated software, but it also prioritizes user training and education to make sure that the average employee can predict all potential threats that even the best software isn’t trained to see.