Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

This blog is part of the ongoing “I&O Perspectives” series, which features insights from industry experts about the impact of current threats, networking, and other cybersecurity trends. In the first part of this blog series, we observed the inception of an internet-based model where corporate networks have no borders anymore, home is the office, applications are in the cloud. This paradigm shift makes connectivity ubiquitous. But security risks have dramatically increased.

Here are three examples that are worth your attention. Oh, what could have been avoided.

In the rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape, the sheer volume of Common Vulnerability and Exposure (CVE) notices has become a daunting challenge for SecOps teams. In 2023 alone, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issued 28,901 CVE notices, reflecting the growing complexity and intensity of potential threats.

When intruders want to break into an establishment, they look for an opening. An open port is one of the openings that a hacker or threat actor looks for to access a digital network. That open port may be on a firewall, a server, or any network-connected computing device. Just as a single unlocked door can jeopardize your privacy and grant access to a physical building, a single open port can provide a point for hackers to breach your systems, exposing you to their malicious intents.

Here’s an endpoint you don’t often think about: your car. But if it’s Wi-Fi enabled, as many new models are, that means it resides at the end point of a network connection and can communicate on that network, making it an endpoint.

Selecting the right SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) vendor requires a solid project management tool that fosters collaboration between network and IT security teams. This collaboration, or team unity, will ensure alignment with an organization’s strategic goals while leveraging the respective expertise of stakeholders. Consequently, the selected SASE solution will meet network design, configuration, and security needs – essential for project success.

The outlook of cyber threats in this modern cyber warfare theater has changed a great deal. Annually, 60% businesses drop victims to data breaches and cyber-attacks. Security teams intrinsically find themselves in a scenario whereby they lack visibility and control of the network traffic and are incidentally unable to detect and respond in real-time. To this regard, modern cybersecurity strategies now incorporate network forensics into their arsenal of defenses.

Tool sprawl is an expensive aspect of technical debt. IDC recently found that 43% of organizations doing business in the Americas have 500 or more software applications in their portfolios today (Application Services — Worldwide Regions, 2023, IDC #US50490416, April 2023). In the area of monitoring and observability tools alone, 50% of companies reported having between 11 and 40 tools.

In the ever-evolving landscape of IT services, channel partners like service providers, managed service providers (MSPs), and telecommunications companies have long played a crucial role in delivering enterprise networking and security solutions. However, a subtle yet powerful shift is emerging that threatens to disrupt this status quo. Single-vendor SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) solutions are rapidly gaining traction and quietly reshaping the competitive landscape.