What is Cyber Defense?

“The best defense is a good offense” - ever came across this adage? Situations arise very often when protecting oneself becomes the best and only way to stay safe.  In cybersecurity, the term ‘cyber defense’ refers to the ability or capability to protect critical systems from cyber attacks. It also involves taking actions to predict risky IT actions and identifying vulnerable areas to counter intrusions. A typical cyber defense strategy is built upon three components: predict, protect, and prevent cyber threats.  

Why is it Important? 

If organizations take proactive steps to ensure adequate cybersecurity in place, they will be able to avoid cyber attacks and prevent data thefts at the right time. With the best possible cyber defense strategies, organizations can ensure uninterrupted business processes round the clock. It builds the ‘trust’ between the organization and its stakeholders because in case of any cyber incident, the brand image of the organization is tarnished. Not only that, there are legal consequences that lead to huge financial losses. Hence, a cyber defense strategy is a must to build  robust cyber defense: It mitigates the probability of:
  • Cyber attacks
  • Data breach incidents
  • Interruption in business process and business continuity
  • Financial losses
  • Reputation loss
  • Increase in legal expenses
  • Non-Compliance penalties
  • Breach of ‘trust’ among stakeholders
 

How is it possible? 

A best-in-class solution with adequate access control security features powered with AI and ML capabilities can ensure robust cyber defense in an organization. A Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution is the best bet in the modern cyber age to stay safe and secure from cyber threats. Let us see why PAM is becoming indispensable in organizations everyday. Avoid Insider Threats: Knowing from where the attack is coming is the best way to secure data assets from any compromise. Most data breach incidents stem from compromised end-users. Due to the abrupt transformation in the IT environment, privileged identities are becoming very vulnerable. Since those identities are large in number for typical organizations and a gateway to confidential information, securing those identities proactively makes the overall IT infrastructure stronger. In order to identify suspicious insiders, features like just-in-time privilege, seamless monitoring of the users, multi-factor authentication and frequent rotation and randomization of passwords help organizations a long way in mitigating looming IT attacks. Likewise, a PAM empowered with AI capabilities can help to understand the risky and anomalous identities that pose a serious threat to confidential information. Ensure Best Security Policy: In the era of a complex and distributed IT environment, the major challenge that organizations face, lies with whether the users are doing what they have been assigned to do. Any deviation from their roles and responsibilities generally means that they are not doing what they are supposed to do. Herein lies the challenge and a PAM solution like ARCON | PAM identifies the suspicious user and notifies the IT administrator immediately. We need to note here that organizations, even if they deploy PAM, adhering to the IT security policy is a must. The IT administrators, IT users and organizations need to follow the policy to ensure end-to-end security in the environment. If the policy is poor or ambiguous, it creates a gap between the three and overall IT security is affected. Moreover, a robust IT security policy shows the cyber readiness of an organization that builds the foundation of cyber defense.  

Conclusion

A variety of individuals from different levels are involved to ensure cyber defense initiatives in an organization. Starting from the management who prepares the policies, the IT security team who ensures that the policies are in place and the IT users who follow the rules and regulations strengthen overall cyber defense. Nevertheless, regular audits help organizations to examine cyber security measures and offer recommendations regarding reset of priorities and implementation of new tools.