Kaseya is hosting its Connect IT 2020 conference online this year, as could be expected, and just unveiled a number of new capabilities and integrations following an acquisition announcement yesterday of email security and phishing defense platform Graphus.
Insight
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The IT implications of the pandemic-induced surge in remote work are headlined by an increased reliance on cloud applications and services. Supporting and securing direct-to-cloud access has necessitated a focus on identity and access management (IAM) initiatives including:
- Extending single sign-on (SSO) to additional SaaS applications
- Implementing MFA (finally!) to secure access to an organization’s most critical and sensitive apps and data
- Rethinking privilege access management (PAM) in a cloud context
- Monitoring user activity to detect both insider threats and stolen credentials
- And, because new devices are being used by remote employees, extending trust-based authentication to device profiles
Updating these aspects and others of an IAM program to secure a remote workforce starts with a focus on policies. However, developing and adjusting policies to support the increase in the work-from-home population is the top security challenge associated with remote work as reported by a third of the respondents in a recent ESG study. In this first of a two-part video series, Greg Keller, JumpCloud’s CTO, and I discuss the challenges and solves for the strategic imperative to secure the identity perimeter expanded by remote work. Click here to watch Part 2 »
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Zero-trust has seen an explosion in interest over the last few years. As the perimeter has become increasingly porous due to cloud usage and distributed network architectures, a fresh look at some of the foundational cybersecurity concepts was sorely needed. This has only been exacerbated by the pandemic, with many organizations not only supporting a primarily remote workforce, but also trying to complete their digital transformation journey in a matter of months, rather than the years they originally planned.
Despite the clear applicability, there remains some confusion in the market regarding exactly what implementing zero-trust entails, where to start, and how to ensure the initiative is successful. The recent finalization of the NIST guidelines on zero-trust architectures may help provide some clarity, but much work remains.
With all that in mind, Mark Peters posed several questions to me on the topic of zero-trust as a part of Enterprise Strategy Group’s recent virtual breakfast at Black Hat 2020. In the following video, Mark and I touch upon:
- Zero-trust interest and adoption. By now, nearly everyone even tangentially involved with cybersecurity has some awareness of zero-trust. In fact, Enterprise Strategy Group research has found that 88% of respondents are very or somewhat familiar with the concept. However, when we consider adoption, the data simply doesn’t match up with real-world scenarios, pointing to the aforementioned confusion.
- Data security as a component of zero-trust. The short answer is that it is a part of a complete zero-trust strategy. However, it should not be the starting point.
- How to incorporate zero-trust. We don’t provide an exhaustive list, but do touch on some of the high-level keys to success with these projects, including starting small while maintaining a long-term vision and how to think about vendor partnerships.
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ESG conducted a comprehensive online survey of IT professionals from private- and public-sector organizations in North America (United States and Canada) between March 20, 2020 and March 28, 2020. To qualify for this survey, respondents were required to be IT professionals responsible for data protection technology decisions, including those in place to ensure application SLAs are met.
This Master Survey Results presentation focuses on real-world SLAs and availability requirements, including tolerance for downtime, downtime metrics, and real-world SLAs in the context of actual data loss against the backdrop of availability technologies and methods.
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This Master Survey Results presentation focuses on how alternative device choices, employee requirements and preferences, and a drive to improve businesses’ security posture are all challenging how traditional desktops are delivered to, maintained for, and consumed by end-user employees, including the increased usage of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) technology.
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ESG conducted a comprehensive online survey of IT and cybersecurity professionals from private- and public-sector organizations in North America (United States and Canada) between June 25, 2019 and July 8, 2019. To qualify for this survey, respondents were required to be IT and information security professionals responsible for the policies, processes, or technical safeguards used for incident readiness and response at their organization.
This Master Survey Results presentation focuses on incident readiness services, including understanding the trigger points influencing service investments for breach preparation and proactive exercises, as well as how decision makers are prioritizing and timing purchase decisions.
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In this new edition of Data Protection Conversations, I speak to Molly Presley, Founder of the Active Archive Alliance.
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ESG’s Master Survey Results provide the complete output of syndicated research surveys in graphical format. In addition to the data, these documents provide background information on the survey, including respondent profiles at an individual and organizational level. It is important to note that these documents do not contain analysis of the data.
This master survey results set offers new data concerning:
- Organizational dynamics, buying behavior, and the future of email security.
- Email attacks and threat detection and response.
- Issues with sensitive data in email.
- Bolstering email security with complementary technologies and services.
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No matter how much changes in life and in IT, two things stay the same: 1. Data continues to grow, and 2. Backup remains a problem. Last year when ESG polled storage decision makers on their data storage challenges, the rapid rate of data growth and backup/protection were two of the top three most commonly identified storage challenges.[1] They were also two of the top three storage challenges in ESG’s 2017 storage research, and in 2015, 2012, 2008, and… well, you get the idea. -
Old friend and Cybereason CSO Sam Curry and I got together (virtually) to chat about all things SOAPA. In part 2 of our video, we focus on:
- This newish thing called XDR. My colleague Dave Gruber and I are all over XDR as analysts, so I asked Sam for his thoughts. Sam thinks of XDR as taking EDR to the next level. He even broke down the acronym stating that the X signified telemetry independence. The “D” in XDR is somewhat overstated, Sam is really focused on the importance of the R, response, as security is about blocking (not finding) the bad guys. In the end, XDR should be a force multiplier for the cybersecurity staff.
- What about analytics?
In my eyes, vendors with the best security analytics win. Sam agrees but mentions that analytics must be complemented with what he calls, “judicious automation” that is continuously monitored and improved. - The Cybereason ASOC concept. Cybereason has a vision of what it calls the autonomous SOC, so I asked Sam to provide some detail. Sam describes a “task focused” architecture that widens the security analytics lens, simplifies SOC analyst duties, and automates actions. Sam reinforces the fact that it’s all about the tasks, not the tools.
- The future of SOAPA. I ask all my guests their view on where SOAPA is going. Sam sees SOAPA as a technology platform that facilitates cybersecurity goals and mission. Since cyber-adversaries are always innovating, SOAPA will never commodify and continue to evolve moving forward.
Many thanks to Sam and Cybereason for participating in the SOAPA video series, I always feel like I learned something when the two of us get together. More SOAPA videos soon.
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When employees were sent home to work due to COVID-19, cybersecurity teams had to adjust their defenses accordingly. This was especially true due to a massive increase in coronavirus-related cyber-threats. In this environment, security awareness training is especially important, but too many training programs are a mere formality, conducted purely to satisfy a corporate governance or regulatory compliance requirement. ESG research illustrates that comprehensive security training is worthwhile as organizations with thorough training programs were more responsive to COVID-19 cyber-threats and had greater employee productivity. As such, CISOs should eschew “checkbox” training and persuade HR and executives to embrace more thorough security awareness training programs with demonstrable benefits and ROI.
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Large organizations built their security infrastructure organically over time, adding new tools as countermeasures to emerging threats. Unfortunately, this created a messy situation where security must be monitored and managed on a tool-by-tool basis. CISOs have had enough—ESG research indicates that they are consolidating vendors and integrating tools into more cohesive technology architectures. These strategic changes will impact the way security technologies are purchased and sold in the future, which will have a downstream impact on the entire security technology industry.
No matter how much changes in life and in IT, two things stay the same: 1. Data continues to grow, and 2. Backup remains a problem. Last year when ESG polled storage decision makers on their data storage challenges, the rapid rate of data growth and backup/protection were two of the top three most commonly identified storage challenges.