By Oscar Visaya
CYBER Crime is evolving in ways we could never have imagined. Attacks are increasingly becoming more sophisticated, new attack vectors are opening and criminals are becoming more persistent. Organizations that wish to safeguard their data should not content themselves with tools and security measures currently in place. After all, staying ahead of cyber criminals is a continuous uphill battle.
There is another angle to cyber security in Southeast Asia. The region’s fragile geopolitical situation, increasingly important role in the world, and rising technology usage and adoption have turned Southeast Asia into an attractive cyber-attack target. The Philippines alone witnessed a major cyber breach last year: The data of 55 million voters were compromised when cyber attackers hacked the nation’s voter registry.
As private firms and governments alike struggle to adapt amid a risky and on-demand environment, there is a greater urgency to understand the nature of new threats, reevaluate security strategy, and find the right resources and processes to ensure integrated, intrinsic protection.
With the following three simple processes, companies and governments can be assured of having all the pieces of the cyber-security puzzle to confidently protect customers and secure their data:
Clarity. Can’t protect what you don’t know. To “know,” you first must be able to “see” into all your application traffic.
Context. Seeing is meaningless without an understanding of all applications and the external factors that can affect your ability to secure them.
Control. Without the ability to apply the right security control, it doesn’t matter how much visibility or context you have.
Organizations focus too much on implementing a full-scale security program and spending time and money on areas that aren’t at risk (low likelihood of exploit and low impact), while failing to devote enough time to areas that are frequently targeted, possess the highest security risks, and have the greatest impact during cyber attacks.
The digital economy is upon us, yet the cyber-security landscape remains fragmented. This leaves businesses feeling inadequate in their ability to tackle cyber attacks confidently.
The trick lies in learning how to best apply security controls in ways that enable visibility without hindering an application’s safety or performance. Hence, it is important to understand how adding context, clarity and control to existing architecture can combat the threats of tomorrow, today.
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Oscar Visaya is the country manager of F5 Networks Philippines Inc. The views he expressed in this abridged version of his column do not necessarily reflect those of the BusinessMirror’s.