7 LAYERS
Cybersecurity shouldn’t be a single piece of technology that improves security. Rather, it should be a layered approach with multiple facets to ensure comprehensive protection.
It’s important to understand what a layered approach consists of. Generally, there are 7 layers of cybersecurity to consider. Below, we explore what these are and why they are important.
The Human Layer
Humans are the weakest link in any cyber security strategy, and they are alone responsible for 90% of data breaches. Mission-critical assets are protected from a variety of human threats, such as cybercriminals, malevolent insiders, and careless users, by human security controls including phishing simulations and access management rules.
Security Strategy: Education and training, which include instructions on how to recognize and deal with phishing attacks, strong password strategies, system hardening, and cyber security awareness, are the best ways to keep the human layer secure. Access controls are a smart notion for protecting the human layer since they can reduce the amount of harm that could result from a successful attack.
Perimeter Security
The physical and digital security techniques that safeguard the entire company are included in perimeter security controls. Here, we must first define our perimeter before determining the sort of data being transmitted across this layer, and then we must secure both the data and the device.
Security Strategy: This includes firewalls, data encryption, antivirus software, device management (which is crucial if your company has a bring-your-own-device and setting up a secure demilitarized zone for further security).
Network Security
Network security measures to safeguard a company’s network and guard against unwanted access. The key worry of the network layer is what users and devices can access once they are within your system.
Security Strategy: If no one person has access to everything, then any successful cyberattack only results in a small portion of the network being breached. The best practice for security at this layer is to only give employees and devices access to the parts of the network that are 100% necessary for them to do their jobs.
Endpoint Security Layer
The endpoint security layer concentrates on safeguarding the individual devices that connect to the network, like computers, smartphones, and tablets. Since these endpoints serve as access points to the network, securing them is crucial. An example of endpoint security is employing antivirus programs and endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions to monitor, detect, and block malicious activities and threats on endpoints, ensuring that even if a device is compromised, the threat does not propagate through the network.
Security Strategy: Endpoint encryption is required to make sure that the devices are operating in secure environments.
Application Security
Controls for application security guard against access to an application, access to your mission-critical assets by an application, and internal application security.
This layer focuses on keeping software and devices free of threats. Secure coding practices are vital here, as vulnerabilities in the application can serve as entry points for cyber threats. Examples of application security measures include regular security scanning and testing to identify and remedy vulnerabilities and employing application security solutions like Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) to protect against threats such as SQL injection and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS).
Security Strategy: The most basic thing you can do here is to keep your programs up to date. This guarantees that the application is as secure as possible and that any known security vulnerabilities are addressed.
Data Security
Data security measures protect the storage and movement of data, which is the target of cybercrime. The most care must be taken with this layer because it is the foundation of your company.
This layer is dedicated to protecting the data residing in the network, focusing on maintaining its confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Encryption is a prime example of a data security measure, where sensitive data is converted into a coded format to prevent unauthorized access. Another example is employing backup solutions and establishing robust access controls to safeguard data from loss, exposure, and unauthorized access, ensuring only authorized personnel can access sensitive information.
Security Strategy: At this level, keeping things secure entails file and disc encryption, frequent backups of all crucial data and procedures, two-factor authentication, enterprise rights management, and rules that make sure data is erased from devices that are no longer in use or that are being given to another employee.
Mission Critical Assets
An example of mission-critical assets in the Healthcare industry is Electronic Medical Record (EMR) software. In the financial sector, its customer’s financial records.
In A Nutshell
As a business, you need to have backups and a solid incident response plan that relies on technology, people, and processes to make sure that a layered approach works as best as it possibly can.
The company culture needs to be one that takes security seriously. You need to ensure that you and your staff are knowledgeable about the reality of cyberattacks and the importance of protecting data. The best way to approach cybersecurity is to be proactive instead of reactive when threats or breaches take place.
Comments
Post a Comment