[BreachExchange] How to Bridge Digital Transformation and Endpoint Security

[Destry Winant]

https://solutionsreview.com/endpoint-security/bridge-digital-transformation-endpoint-security/

In the wake of the enterprise-level digital transformation revolution,
new access demands and storage issues has complicated endpoint
security in a way never before encountered. New questions are arising.
Where is the digital perimeter if there so many assets exist in the
cloud? Which endpoints need to be secured if employees could bring any
number of devices into the workplace?

Complicating matters, failing to get a handle on your enterprise’s
endpoint security can place a serious damper on your enterprise’s
potential digital transformation. Do you know what to emphasize in
your endpoint security strategy as you prepare for a digital
transformation? Do you know where your endpoints are truly unsecured?
Do you have the right strategies to fix deficiencies?

Here are a few of our top suggestions for aligning your digital
transformation with your endpoint security:

Stop Neglecting Patches and Updates

Your endpoints—laptops, mobile devices, etc.—all require continual
security updates for both their firm and software. More often than
not, these are considered nuisances, wasting work time waiting for the
updates to download and implement.

However, these updates are vital to your digital transformation and
your endpoint security alike; they contain essential security updates
necessary for protecting users from new malicious threats on the web
or cloud. These security updates improve devices’ threat intelligence,
allowing them to stay alert to modern cyber attacks. Furthermore,
these updates innoculate your endpoint devices from infections by
other endpoints, vital to establishing a secure network overall.

On a related note…

Regulate Your Enterprise’s BYOD Culture

The promise of bring-your-own-devices culture is enticing to
enterprises of all sizes: employees can provide their own laptops and
mobile devices (generally). They will know their individual devices
better than endpoints provided by your business and will, therefore,
be more productive. Further, it allows your enterprise to take
advantage of digital transformation by allowing for more flexibility
in work location and work hours.

However, for the digitally transformed enterprise, each new device
represents a potential threat to your endpoint security. You can’t be
sure every connecting device has a consistent or compatible endpoint
security solution (or any solution at all). Each one could be a new
security hole in your digital perimeter.

Therefore, in your digital transformation, make sure you know exactly
which devices are connecting to your network. Even in a BYOD culture,
this is possible—ask employees to register their devices with your
security team as part of their onboarding process. If they need to
register a new device, ensure all employees know the process to
register their devices, and prevent them from accessing the network
with an unregistered device.

This may seem like huge demands but think of them as upfront costs.
The long-term benefits cannot be calculated.

Solve Your Culture Problems

Your enterprise’s culture—its business processes, its ability to
handle external ideas, how it grows and adapts—can be part of the
endpoint security problems preventing your enterprise’s digital
transformation. According to research giant Gartner, 46% of Chief
Information Officers (CIOs) say their enterprise’s culture is the
biggest obstacle to their digital transformation.  Cybersecurity is as
much a part of that culture as any other process. This needs to
change.

This doesn’t mean hosting “culture change meetings” or Status Update
meetings. All those will accomplish is wasting your precious and
limited time.

Instead, demonstrate your new endpoint security policies to your
employees through continual and high-quality training initiatives.
Show them what about your endpoint security has changed in the wake of
your digital transformation, including what protocols and safety
measures they will need to embrace. Often, a lot of endpoint security
mishaps occur because employees and enterprise leaders simply don’t
know what their enterprise’s security protocols are.

Take the first steps to make security a recognized part of your
culture. Then keep going.

Close Any Unregulated Access

Access management tends to get lumped into identity management when
discussing cybersecurity. Granted they are similar solutions dealin
with similar issues. However, access management also comprises an
essential part of the modern digital perimeter, especially in the era
of enterprises’ digital transformation.

The distinction between the different branches of cybersecurity can
become blurry when cloud storage and off-premises communications
become involved. Identity is certainly a central component of new
endpoint security. For example, if during the offboarding process you
fail to remove permissions from a former employee, you create a
security hole in your digital perimeter hackers would love to
exploit…or a potential insider threat in waiting.

So don’t allow it to happen. Make sure your perimeter is secured
against improper accounts and orphaned accounts as well as ransomware
and cryptojacking malware. Your business may depend on it.

Get Up-to-Date on Your Endpoint Security

“Legacy antivirus” is called such because it’s a relic of a bygone
age. Traditional viruses no longer serve as the go-to tool for
hackers. Blatant attacks like ransomware are being rapidly supplanted
by quieter threats like cryptojacking malware or fileless
malware—threats designed to slip through the digital perimeter
unnoticed.

Additionally, legacy antivirus solutions aren’t even designed to
handle cloud architectures or digital transformation. They are
inadequate for the modern enterprise in every way. Do yourself and
your security team a favor and select a next-generation endpoint
security solution designed to handle these demands.

You wouldn’t hire an employee unable to do the job. Why have a
technology that can’t?