Information Security: How critical is it?

As per the current trends, the news of some or the other organization falling victim of foul cyberattack led breach, resulting in exposure of sensitive information and confidential data is no more a rare scenario.
When servers were securely encrypted and hidden away behind the corporate firewalls and perimeter-deployed intrusion prevention controls, enterprises took the security aspect complacently and completely relied on their host information security system. However, unforeseen events and actions have exposed the inadequately architected information security controls.
Network-based protection has made the businesses information quite vulnerable to attacks while the migration to hybrid cloud and private domains is imminently executed. The ever-changing cyber-threat landscape poses a critical challenge of keeping data secure whilst the evolving complexity of cyber threats whether a virus attack, cyber-fraud or espionage is getting intricate and daunting.
Regardless of the growing complexity of operations and magnanimity of enterprise networks, organizations still continue to jeopardize the security and as per 2018 State of Application Delivery (SOAD) report as many as 36% of businesses have only 25% of their applications secured. This needs to change – mainly the approach towards the alarming issue of IT information security (infosec) as we discuss.
Guiding Principles of Infosec: CIA
Information security is designed to protect the enterprise assets – digital and non-digital in every format from spiteful intentions. The core objectives ensure that confidential and sensitive information is made accessible to only authorized party (confidential), ward off unsanctioned data modification (Integrity) and ensure the data availability to all the authorized party as and when required (availability), commonly referred to as the CIA triad, the combined features of infosec program.  Infosec is a blanket term that encompasses compliance, risk and protection from unauthorized access, usage, expose, disruption, changes or ruining of the network and the data. CIA triad is the basis to a robust information security system.
The big question is which one of these CIA attributes is the most important. The answer and approach are completely based on businesses to evaluate and align their mission, goals, services, compliance perimeter and SLAs. In all likelihood all the components of CIA take the priority and organizations in that case should ensure equal allocation of resources for seamless implementation of CIA.
For confidentiality of information the critical aspect is encryption to ensure only authorized personnel can access and decode the information. As an alternative, information can be kept confidential through enforced permission and access control to sensitive information to restrict the accessibility.
Integrity entails protecting the information from unauthorized personnel since information holds value only if it is accurate. Cryptography is the key to keep the information integral through securely hashing the original message. Availability is conducive and valued when the information is made accessible to the right people at the time they need, and backup is the key to it to ward off disruption and destruction.
Security Imminent to be part of Organizational Culture
Information technology has become an integral part of every aspect of the enterprise world. Hence, fostering data security for business assurance is indispensable. Infosec cannot happen in silos, it is a shared endeavor to be incorporated into the organizational culture. Be it, employees, business partners or other stakeholders, personnel with access to sensitive data should not view security as an added cost burden; rather, awareness about cyber-attacks and threats should be the top priority even for casual technology users in an organization
A minor security lapse can result in serious security risks that have the capability to jeopardize business operations and result in serious loss. Business enterprises must accept and proactively initiate security implementations. Though laws remain static for some time, technology is a dynamic agent. It keeps changing evolving and changing technology undoubtedly brings new types of threats. So, while laws on information security might not get updated with technological changes, companies must look beyond their legal requirements and take a robust security stance.
CMS IT Proposition
Enterprises encounter serious security breaches despite investing heavily in Information security infrastructure. Hackers shrewdly devise new ways to breach the Information security of enterprise networks, either from within the company or from outside.
Research suggests that nearly 90% of enterprise breaches could be prevented through proper monitoring. Having said so, setting up a dedicated Security Operations Centre (SOC) to monitor the data and network is an enormous challenge because of high set-up costs, demands significant time and efforts, and increasing shortage of skilled in-house experts. Our SOCs at Bangalore and Mumbai offices are robust with in-house skilled expertise to take care of all types of business information security needs.
CMS IT’s Integrated Information Security framework security program revolves around process-driven human intelligence managing best-in-class technologies with better business service SLAs and security SLAs. We automate the processes through our end-to-end Artificial Intelligence as well. We offer solutions to complex business enterprise network securities through consistent and efficient tailored infosec services to cater to the organizational security goals and requirements.
As one of India’s top IT services firms, CMS IT provides complete solutions to large corporations across all sectors, including banking, insurance, retail, telecom and manufacturing. We provide new, cost effective and cutting-edge IT infrastructure solutions that are reliable, resilient and responsive. With decades of experience CMS IT’s security operations center (SOC) model is progressive and designed to meet all the advanced cyber security.
Conclusion
Excessive connectivity, governance pressure and sky-rocketing customer expectations are all together having a major impact on the modus operandi of companies to proactively address the alarming risks to their network security from all quarters. Whether financial services or retail sector, digital transformation landscape is the key driver to all the applications. Cloud adoption has undeniably heightened the need to step up from the conventional security measures, to stay abreast of the rapid rise in users, applications, data and infrastructure.
In today’s sprawling global networking and digital world, App security contributes a major share in the reputation management. Businesses need to deliver services with higher speed, adaptive functionality with utmost security.
Reference
Cobb, S. (2018). The 5 IT security actions to take now based on 2018 Trends. Retrieved from https://www.welivesecurity.com/2018/04/04/5-security-actions-cyber-risks-trends/
Cotextis. (2018). What’s a Security Operations Centre (SOC) and why should I care? Retrieved from  https://www.contextis.com/blog/whats-security-operations-centre-soc-and-why-should-i-care
Durbin, S. (2018). The Top Five Global Cyber Security Threats for 2018. Retrieved from https://www.cso.com.au/article/632468/top-five-global-cyber-security-threats-2018

Assimilation of Security Technologies into Cloud Platforms

Cloud is the future and organizations around the world are adopting cloud platforms for managing their IT resources. According to a recent Gartner report on the cloud computing trends in India, the enterprise IT spend on cloud computing increased to $71 Billion in 2016, a six percent increment from 2015i. The trend is slated to continue. The same Gartner report positioned cloud computing to constitute a major share of the IT investments this year. With an increased rate of adoption and especially post recent cyber-threats like WannaCry and Petya, organizations across the world have realized the importance of cloud security and are working towards safeguarding their cloud.