Written by Martin Mascarenhas, Head of New Enterprise Business, Xalient
In today’s digital landscape, knowledge is power, and this is especially true when it comes to understanding your security posture and system operations. Without a deep understanding of your security systems’ performance, your organisation could be vulnerable to cyber threats. Let’s delve into a few key areas where knowledge can empower you in enhancing security posture.
Understanding the Foundation: Identity and Access Control
Identity is the foundation upon which secure access to your systems, data, and intellectual property is built. It’s essential to classify all of your organisation’s resources to gain a clear understanding of your environment. Without proper classification of users and services, providing the right access to the right individuals becomes an impossible task.
Consider this: Does your business meet the standard of allowing the right people the right access to the right resources at the right time and for the right reasons? To achieve this, it’s imperative to classify your resources and grant access accordingly. By doing so, you can eliminate inherent trust and transition to a least privilege access model. This approach ensures that your users can only access the resources necessary for their job responsibilities.
Robust governance, including automated joiner, mover, and leaver processes, further reduces your attack surface and maintains a granular approach to access controls, even in dynamic and ever-evolving environments. Additionally, “privileged” access to systems should be meticulously managed, with specific access methods enforced, such as “check out and check in” of rotated passwords and session logging.
Navigating the Complexities of Public Cloud Security
The rapid expansion of public cloud-based systems and resources has introduced a new set of security concerns. Often, silos exist between network, security, and cloud/devops teams, each with its own set of objectives. To maintain governance and control, it’s crucial to assess who has access to create these resources and how well they are configured.
Questions that should be addressed include: Are redundant and unused resources still active and incurring costs? Are misconfigurations exposing security weaknesses, and is the organisation aware of them? Do you have active processes in place to scan for vulnerabilities, or are your resources inadvertently exposed to the internet?
Reacting to the Changing Landscape: Security in the Age of Remote Work
The events of 2020 compelled organisations to quickly adapt to a more mobile workforce as the pandemic struck. This urgency resulted in the rapid implementation of various security tools. While these tools generate a wealth of logs, alerts, alarms, and warnings, it’s essential to ask: Who is responsible for monitoring them? Are all these alerts being acted upon, and are they addressed appropriately? Preventative mechanisms are vital for improving security posture, but readiness to react to threats is equally crucial.
M&A Activity and Organic Growth: Identifying the Blind Spots
If your organisation is involved in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) or pursuing organic growth, these security challenges are likely on your radar. However, it’s equally important to recognize that organic growth can bring its own set of vulnerabilities and risks. Without the knowledge to identify and address these issues, your organisation could become the next cyberattack victim.
Xalient’s Expertise in Addressing Security Challenges
At Xalient, we specialise in addressing these critical security challenges through our M&A practice, Security Practice, and Networking Practice. Our daily commitment is to help organisations like yours harness the power of knowledge to enhance your security posture and protect your valuable assets. We’re here to assist you in navigating the ever-evolving world of cybersecurity. Don’t wait until it’s too late – empower your organisation with knowledge and control to safeguard your future. Contact us today, and let’s fortify your security strategy together.
