With the COVID pandemic mostly behind us, we are faced with the reality that the workplace has forever been changed. Security is on the top minds of most business owners and CIO’s out there. Here are the new trends that we will see more of in the coming year.
Location Independent Security is no longer relying on a centralized firewall
Let’s rewind back to 2019, every employee comes into the office, they login to their desktop computer that was assigned to them, they work until 5pm, then, they shut down their machine and leave. Life is great since these employees wouldn’t take their computers home, all of the business resources such as file servers, data, applications, etc. were mostly behind the centralized office firewall. This firewall scanned for viruses, intrusion attempts, malware, and allowed admin control over what each individual can access on the internet, often times blocking questionable websites.
Now, lets jump forward to present day 2022. The workplace as we know it is vastly different, many users have to adapt to work from home, often times taking their computers with them to the office and back home. Many businesses have gone virtual all together, relying on cloud services and individuals working from home.
So, what to do with that dust covered firewall at the office that no one is at?
Well, to be fair, the firewall is very much needed to protect the on-premise of that office network; however, we need to go a step further to protect individual computers.
To be truly protected you must utilize tools that will protect individual machines in the same way that advanced firewalls would protect sites. The move to enterprise level endpoint protection will be the Next Generation Firewall.
Ransomware-as-a-Service Turning to SMBs
As I have previously stated, the threat actors don’t care if they get $50,000 from a single business or $5,000 from 10 businesses. With many businesses spending money on security, (that includes advanced agents, firewalls, and cloud spam filters that detect phishing), hackers are targeting smaller businesses that are not as aware of the threats. The SMB segment will become a target in the coming year.
Malware is also distributed now as a service, so any wimpy wanna-be hacker can in fact be a hacker! Simply sign up for the service, pay for the tools, and with minimal technical experience, it’s possible to cause havoc on a non-secured network.
Move to the cloud and hybrid networks
As more cloud services become available, there is a transition happening from on-premise to a hybrid environment. This gives much more flexibility to businesses, allowing for better services; however, it also creates a plethora of new attack vectors. Securing the cloud will be a hot new segment that we should all pay attention to. Don’t assume that just because your application or service is on the cloud it’s hack proof.
What cloud integration does allow for, is a better and more secure means to manage the network in the office and outside the office environment.
If you are concerned about the security and the shift that is happening in the world to the cloud, please find a Managed Services Provider (MSP) in your area that also specializes in Cybersecurity. AlphaCIS is an Atlanta Based MSP specializing in just that! Please give us a call to see how we can help keep your business protected (678) 619-1218
