Provided by Prostream South Africa & Ctrl Digital ZA.

Every day, cybersecurity threats, actors, and methods continue to evolve. The growing reliance on interconnected systems and data-sharing applications has made security an ever-more pressing issue for enterprises due to threats such as supply chain vulnerabilities. Therefore, it is essential that you ensure the protection of critical data and other resources. In doing so, a sturdy framework can be created to reduce the likelihood of overlooking details.

Data protection aims to guard your organization against data loss and ensure the security of all devices that access your data. Standard information security technologies, such as antivirus software and firewalls, help govern and manage the entire process of data security. We discuss the biggest cyber security threats facing the enterprise today and how you can protect yourself against them.

What are the most common threats to enterprise data security?

Social Engineering. A major problem with social engineering is that it relies on human error rather than software and operating systems vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, the mistakes made by legitimate users are often much less predictable, making them more challenging to detect and prevent than malware-based intrusions.

A perpetrator first investigates the intended victim to gather necessary background information, such as potential points of entry and weak security protocols needed to proceed with the attack. Then, the attacker moves to gain the victim’s trust and provide stimuli for subsequent actions that break security practices, such as revealing sensitive information or granting access to critical resources.

Cloud Vulnerabilities. With so much data flowing between organizations and cloud service providers, untrusted third parties can leak sensitive data through accidental or malicious means. Human error, malware, weak credentials, and insider threats are often factors in cloud service data breaches. In many cases, malicious actors, such as state-sponsored hackers, exploit cloud service vulnerabilities to escape with data from the victim organization’s network for commercial gain or other illicit purposes.

To mitigate the risk of unauthorized data transfers, service interruptions, and reputational damage, organizations of all sizes ought to rethink their network security protocols.

Ransomware. Ransomware encrypts a computer’s files to extort money from users. Ransomware attacks prevent users from accessing their computers or files once attacks have been implemented. Instead, cybercriminals demand a ransom fee from users to gain access to their systems again.

Bitcoin is often used for ransom transactions. Other payment methods may also be requested, such as Amazon gift cards. Depending on the size of the ransom, the costs can be tens of thousands of dollars or more. Nevertheless, many organizations still fail to regain access to their systems after paying ransoms.

Poor Data Management. Managing your data is more than just maintaining a neat and tidy storage system. Consumers generate twice as much data every four years, but over half of that data goes unused or unanalysed. The build-up of surplus data results in confusion, leaving data vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Insider Threats. Insider threats are security risks originating from within an organization. In most cases, it involves an employee or associate responsible for accessing sensitive information or privileged accounts within an organization’s network and misusing that access. Traditionally, security measures have focused more on external threats and have not always been able to identify internal threats within an organization.

SQL Injection. Attackers use SQL injection (SQLi) to cheat a database, steal data, and perform other unwanted actions. This is done by adding malicious code to a seemingly innocent database query. Using SQL injection, attackers can access customer data and intellectual property or gain administrative control of a database.

“Original Software Vendors, together with their partners, bring a range of skills, perspectives, and solutions to the market. Organizations need a crystalline overview and an acute understanding of their data, including onboarding, assessment, consumption, managing, and securing compliant use of the entire data ecosystem. We at Prostream are focused on bringing together a mixture of skills and solutions to help our clients achieve just that. Combined, these products are an impressive force in detecting and mitigating cybersecurity threats.” – Leon Meyer, Business Unit Manager at Prostream Data

What solutions are available for enterprise data security?

Data Discovery and Classification Tools. Sensitive information can be stored in both structured and unstructured repositories, such as databases, warehouses, big data platforms, edge devices, end-user devices, and cloud deployments. Data discovery and classification solutions help identify sensitive information and assess and fix vulnerabilities.

Access Management Solutions. Fundamental to any data-driven business is understanding the value of that data and further understanding who should have access to data and for which purpose at a granular level. Privileged Access Management (PAM) and, very importantly, converged Identity and Access Management (IAM) tools assist in achieving this.

Data and File Integrity Monitoring. By analyzing file activity patterns, data monitoring tools enable security teams to know who is accessing data, spot anomalies and identify risks. For instances of abnormal activity, dynamic blocking and alerts can be implemented.

Vulnerability Management Tools. Solutions such as these make it easier for companies to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities, such as outdated software, misconfigurations, or weak passwords. They can also specify data sources at the greatest risk of being compromised. In addition, best-in-class tools make extensive use of AI and now AGI, and will readily recommend remediation actions to be taken by data security teams.

Automated Compliance Management and Reporting. Solutions that provide comprehensive data protection and automated reporting capabilities can be used to provide centralized management of compliance audit trails across an enterprise.

Secure Your Data with Prostream Data Solutions

Prostream Data Ecosystem rapidly identifies and solves your data challenges, proactively setting up structures to prevent them from reoccurring. Prostream Data offers in-built data governance and management that’s simple, affordable, and sustainable. It makes dirty data clean and drives a culture of high-quality data in your organization.