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email systems at work but in a protected,
isolated environment.
Another example is the thousands of cloud
applications which are increasing by amount,
so we have a number of solutions that aim
to protect companies.
Email is where the biggest vulnerability
derives from. The interesting statistic is
that 94% of hacks are coming through
people clicking attachments and links, 96%
of that is through email but if you look at
customers’ IT spending, particularly around
security spending, the average is something
like only 8% of most companies’ security
budget is spent on these areas.
Most companies are focused on securing
infrastructure but that’s not where the
threats are coming from.
Do you think there are any
Europe-specific countries that
need to be improving their
cybersecurity approach?
It’s an issue across the board – the bad
guys don’t discriminate. It doesn’t matter
which market, country, or vertical sectors you
look at, it’s the same everywhere. They are
extremely targeted so if a hacker discovers
a vulnerability, they will keep going until the
vulnerability is stopped.
We see it happening in all countries and
markets, there aren’t any that really stand
out. Typically, the regulated industries
have very good processes around this but
generally everyone is facing the same
challenge, particularly as employees are
using social media more regularly.
FEATURE: CYBERSECURITY
MOST COMPANIES ARE FOCUSED ON
SECURING INFRASTRUCTURE BUT
THAT’S NOT WHERE THE THREATS
ARE COMING FROM.
Are there any major
cybersecurity trends that
stand out across Europe? the hacker is seeking. So, we say to people
that we can help them identify those Very
Attack People.
We’re increasingly noticing that customers
are placing more and more focus on
email security because it is absolutely the
number one way hackers are getting in
and we’re seeing this change occur in large
enterprises. The issue for some of the smaller
organisations that don’t have the budgets
or perhaps the resources or knowledge is
that they are vulnerable. Bigger enterprises
often understand the importance of having
email security but many of them went to
the market three or four years ago, chose
an email security solution and then haven’t
returned to see what else is now available. Secondly, if you haven’t been out to the
market and looked at your email solution for
a good three or four years, give us a chance
to do a proof of concept for you.
We encourage potential customers to
do a couple of things; first of all, we can
help them identify what we call their Very
Attack People. These are different to VIPs
– Very Attack People are the people in an
organisation being attacked and the targets
are usually very surprising. It isn’t necessarily
the CFO – although they are undoubtedly
a high-level target – it’s often people you
wouldn’t consider such as the customer
services manager or an individual engineer
as they have access to the information that With so many security
companies in the market today,
how does Proofpoint stand out?
We find that when we do a proof of concept
with customers, they’re often surprised
by how much we’re catching that other
competitors haven’t. So, I think it’s really
important, given email security is the biggest
vulnerability of all, that all companies
including the small enterprises who might
not even think about it, take another look at
the market.
I would say there are two things; firstly,
we’re a leader in the Gartner Magic
Quadrant, which is really important and gives
customers that comfort factor.
Secondly, the fact we look at security with
a people-centric approach is so important
because the technology and software should
follow. What’s most important is who the
people are that are being attacked and how
we can protect them.
We find people in the very highest part of
an organisation still clicking on harmful links.
So, even after trying to educate people, they
still might click on these links, so you need to
make sure you capture as much as possible.
We see 600 million emails that we’re
protecting each day where we identify
attacks and stop them. This is a huge
number and means we have the best
intelligence network in the business and
that’s what matters. n
www.intelligentcio.com
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