IT Trends & Technology

Designed from the outside in, 20th-century hierarchical networks have traditionally relied on classifying users as “trusted” and “untrusted.” Unfortunately, this methodology has proven to be insecure. With increased attack sophistication and insider threats, operating on the assumption that everything inside an organization’s network can be trusted is no longer viable. This legacy model assumes that a user’s identity has not been compromised and that all users act responsibly. If a user is “trusted,” that user has access to applications and data by default. History has shown us that trust is a vulnerability that can be exploited.

Over the past few months, IT professionals have made working from home possible with remote capabilities; however, the industry has not been spared from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the IT profession has been hit hard – more than 110,000 layoffs were reported in April. With IT playing such a critical role in business, there is an increased need for managed services as a cost-effective means of keeping operations up and running during these uncertain financial times.

In today’s threat landscape, experts say it’s no longer a matter of if a cyberattack will affect an organization, but when. Something as simple as a link click in a phishing email can compromise an entire network.

According to Juniper Research, 146 billion records are expected to be exposed in data breaches between 2018 and 2023. IBM and the Ponemon Institute estimate the global average cost of a data breach is $3.6 million. In addition to high risk and the costly damages faced by all organizations, financial institutions face stringent regulatory and compliance standards.

Many leaders across the finance industry find themselves needing increased information security but having to fulfill that need within budget constraints. Additionally, cloud computing and digital transformation add layers to the need for a more sophisticated and integrated information security strategy.

Security vulnerabilities in your technology infrastructure are no longer something just for your IT department to worry about; the impact of a cyberattack can quickly send ripples throughout your entire organization, from its balance sheet to its stockholders. And with more than 53,000 security incidents reported in 2018 alone, the question has seemingly flipped from not if, but when your network could be in the crosshairs.

What started as an average Monday at Yahoo headquarters in 2000 turned out to be one of the first widely reported distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. After an attacker took over and redirected a university’s computers to flood Yahoo’s internet portal traffic, the media company fell victim to a three-hour blackout that left many scratching their heads, wondering what had just happened.

This article was derived from an article published on TechRadar. Read the full article here: “Are you available for a quick task?” – Keep an eye out for the latest phishing scam hitting inboxes

The FBI estimates phishing scams have resulted in billions of dollars in fraud losses over the last five years. According to FNTS Information Security Architect Richard Kalinowski, there has been an increasing number of these targeted email cyberattacks across the globe, and phishing emails are sailing past spam filters and into company inboxes with more regularity.