Cyberattacks are on the rise in terms of frequency, and growing in terms of sophistication. This is the conclusion of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre in a report produced in conjunction with partners in the USA, Australia, and Canada. It is no longer sufficient for businesses to simply wait for protections to come. In order to push back the encroaching tide, a sophisticated approach is needed in which all parties work, proactively, to defend cyberspace. For businesses, the first step comes in ensuring that their data is protected, rather than a sitting duck for attacks.
Also read: 10 Ways of Encryption Key Management and Data Security
Managing encryption
The first step in a proper defenSe is to be organized. According to the University of North Dakota, the most ubiquitous forms of attack today include denial of service, a man in the middle, and SQL injection. All of these attacks require some prior knowledge of the target’s webspace in order to make the attack in the first place.
The way to prevent this is through the use of sophisticated IP masking and management tools, the IPAM chief among them. A properly managed IPAM can create information security across the network and, most crucially, ensure that any weaknesses in the armor are properly dealt with so that attackers simply cannot find an in. This is crucial in the wider scheme, as any weakness in the wider network can be exploited to reach other partner networks and launch broader attacks.
Updating software
It’s a tale as old as time – vulnerabilities that prey on day zero errors, failing software updates, embedding long-term software, or malware that causes extensive damage. For businesses, this can be crippling. Updating software, hardware, and firmware are absolutely crucial in avoiding this. While most hardware manufacturers will do this themselves via automatic processes, you can never be too sure – check, and double-check, for vulnerabilities in your business IT, and work diligently to patch them up.
Also read: 5 Tips to Protect your Network from Malware Attacks
Empowering AI
According to small business advisors TechAdvisory, one of the most potent tools in proactive cybersecurity defense could be the deployment of artificial intelligence. By using AI to prevent threats before they can ever get close to breaching a business, a lot of weight is taken off the shoulders of business owners, cybersecurity professionals, and national cyber defense initiatives. It’s also a very forward-thinking step.
AI is likely to be deployed by hackers, according to CISO Mag, within the near future – the ability of such software to work, unmanned, and discover networks to attack, could be invaluable. In such a situation, the best defense will be a taste of its own medicine. This will also help to generate invaluable data for national cybersecurity efforts.
AI will be the ultimate proactive tool, a genuine method of getting one step over attackers who always seem to have an advantage. This will be crucial in the long-term fight against malicious actors trying to secure data via illicit means. For the protection of businesses and indeed the nation, that’s an essential step to take.
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