The Human Side of Security:  Security Threats and Considerations For Today’s Mobile Workforce

The Human Side of Security: Security Threats and Considerations For Today’s Mobile Workforce

While flexibility is empowering the workforce, it is also complicating data security.

As an industry, even as a community, we’ve been particularly focused on external cybersecurity threats. Colossal data breaches and high profile attacks on corporate data centers and institutional networks that have originated outside victim organizations have dominated the news cycle. However, it’s going to become increasingly important to focus on insider threats and the human element of cybersecurity as workforces continue to become more mobile. Over half (52 percent) of employees already work outside of a traditional office at least one day a week, while 18 percent are working from a public location every week.[i]

Whether by malice, accident or negligence, end users – people like you and me – are increasingly responsible for network breaches. Gone are the days where we work exclusively from our offices on our desktop PCs. Today we’re working from our homes, coffee shops, co-working spaces and other locations on laptops, smartphones, tablets and desktop computers. While flexibility is empowering the workforce, it is also complicating data security. With this in mind, there are a few key areas that will become increasingly important to focus on this year: social engineering attacks, user behavior analytics and the need for a multifaceted security solution to address both internal and external threats.

Gaining Access Through Social Engineering

While many external threats start with malware or phishing, we’re seeing an increasing number of attacks using social engineering to compel users to expose their credentials like passwords and usernames. These attacks are appealing because if successful, the attacker can pose as a legitimate user – and won’t be easily caught by anti-virus or anti-malware software. Social engineering uses various methods to target specific employees’ personal information with the intent to leverage that information to deceive those employees into handing over confidential, restricted company information. According to the results of the Dell End-User Security Survey, nearly half of all employees at companies large and small are regularly accessing social media sites on their work devices, which indicates this is an area of significant exposure, and one to which we need to pay more attention.

While the employee’s actions are usually not malicious, accessing social media using the same devices that are used to access corporate data can create significant cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Once an attacker gains access to an organization’s network with credentials stolen via social engineering, they can stay in that network for any length of time, stealing critical data or plotting a larger attack without an organization realizing that the person accessing the network and its information isn’t who they say they are. This is where user behavior analytics comes in.

User Behavior Analytics

While still in its early stages, user behavior analytics is rapidly gaining interest from a wide range of organizations. User behavior analytics leverage big data techniques to help organizations identify unique patterns indicating who is accessing the network, from where, and that they are who they claim to be. If the system detects anomalous behavior, the deviation creates an alert to help organizations determine if a breach is in motion and then take steps to stop it. User behavior analytics differ from other forms of security analytics because they focus squarely on users’ behavior rather than traditional security events. If someone has had their credentials stolen, eventually, an anomaly will arise – whether that’s logging in at odd times, poking around areas of the network that they don’t normally access, or moving large amounts of data.

Organizations Need a Multifaceted Approach to Cyber Security

The combination of both internal and external threats facing organizations today creates a significant threat landscape that requires a multi-layered security solution. While user behavior analytics can help detect and flag threats from within the network, you must also put programs in place to prevent these threats from occurring in the first place. It is essential to provide employee education to help reduce the incidence of insider induced breaches. According to the Dell End User Security Survey, only thirty-six percent of those surveyed feel very confident in their knowledge of how to protect sensitive company information. Many successful attacks target users who are traditionally more vulnerable to cyber-attacks, or those who handle sensitive data – be it smaller businesses without dedicated IT resources and education programs or organizations where data is of paramount importance. Better educating employees about cybersecurity and the role they play in helping to reduce threats should be part of any organization’s security strategy.

Finally, organizations need to focus on securing their data with file-based data encryption as well as protecting against external threats with an advanced threat prevention solution. The combination of both data encryption and advanced threat prevention ensures that while we reduce and quickly detect external threats, the data remains protected whether at rest on an endpoint or when it travels, both inside and outside of the organization.

[i] Dell 2016 Future Workforce Study

Featured

  • Freedom of Choice

    In today's security landscape, we are witnessing a fundamental transformation in how organizations manage digital evidence. Law enforcement agencies, campus security teams, and large facility operators face increasingly complex challenges with expanding video data, tightening budget constraints and inflexible systems that limit innovation. Read Now

  • Accelerating a Pathway

    There is a new trend touting the transformational qualities of AI’s ability to deliver actionable data and predictive analysis that in many instances, seems to be a bit of an overpromise. The reality is that very few solutions in the cyber-physical security (CPS) space live up to this high expectation with the one exception being the new generation of Physical Identity and Access Management (PIAM) software – herein recategorized as PIAM+. Read Now

  • Protecting Your Zones

    It is game day. You can feel the crowd’s energy. In the parking lot. At the gate. In the stadium. On the concourse. Fans are eager to party. Food and merchandise vendors ready themselves for the rush. Read Now

  • Street Smarts

    The ongoing acceptance of AI and advanced data analytics has allowed surveillance camera technology to shift from being a tactical tool to a strategic business solution. Combining traditional surveillance technology with AI-based data-driven insights can streamline transportation systems, enhance traffic management, improve situational awareness, optimize resource allocation and streamline emergency response procedures. Read Now

  • The Progress of Biometrics

New Products

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden Door Controls is pleased to announce that, in response to soaring customer demand, it has expanded its range of ValueWave™ no-touch switches to include a narrow (slimline) version with manual override. This override button is designed to provide additional assurance that the request to exit switch will open a door, even if the no-touch sensor fails to operate. This new slimline switch also features a heavy gauge stainless steel faceplate, a red/green illuminated light ring, and is IP65 rated, making it ideal for indoor or outdoor use as part of an automatic door or access control system. ValueWave™ no-touch switches are designed for easy installation and trouble-free service in high traffic applications. In addition to this narrow version, the CM-221 & CM-222 Series switches are available in a range of other models with single and double gang heavy-gauge stainless steel faceplates and include illuminated light rings.