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EDITOR’S QUESTION
RASHID ALI, UK
ENTERPRISE SALES
MANAGER AT WALLIX
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A
s businesses pour time, money and
resources into tackling external
cyberthreats, it is also fundamental
to protect against threats within the
organisation itself. In fact, despite hackers
and ransomware grabbing a lot of media
attention, insider threats are the leading
cause of cyberattacks.
While the term ‘insider threat’ immediately
makes us think of a disgruntled employee
with malicious intent, the reality is that
these threats can come in all different
shapes and sizes. Simply put, anyone with
privileged access to critical business systems
“
THE REALITY IS
THAT ANYONE
WITH ACCESS IS
A RISK TO THE
BUSINESS – SO
SAFEGUARDING
THE NETWORK
AND DATA IS
FUNDAMENTAL.
www.intelligentcio.com
“
IT’S IMPORTANT
TO IMPLEMENT
A PLATFORM
THAT SUPPORTS
BOTH SECURITY
AND WORKFLOW
PRODUCTIVITY.
represents some form of security risk to the
organisation. These insiders can be company
executives, HR managers, IT admins or
even third-party vendors. While each team
member might be valued and trusted,
not all breaches are intentional. The vast
majority of cybersecurity breaches are in fact
accidental – meaning even the most trusted
of employees pose a security threat. So how
can we safeguard against human error?
Organisations need to implement a
comprehensive security strategy that
encompasses all areas of the business to
provide control and access restrictions.
This should filter down throughout all the
infrastructure layers, including cloud-based
systems, on-premises storage and backup
servers. This way, even privileged credentials
have limited access – meaning that if an
error does occur or passwords are stolen/
hacked, the breach will also be restricted.
By implementing a form of privileged
access management, businesses will
be able to centralise account security
operations, encrypt passwords and control
user access – enhancing the security
measures placed around privileged
accounts. It’s also essential to ensure that
any privileged access management solution
is seamlessly integrated – continuing to
give employees the same flexibility and
support to work in the most efficient way
possible. While security is a top concern
for company CISOs and CIOs, employees
day-to-day are faced with time constraints
and sometimes see added layers and
multiple password requests as a trade-off
between efficiency and security. This is not
necessarily the case so it’s important to
implement a platform that supports both
security and workflow productivity.
With an integrated privileged access
management solution, organisations can
balance the need to safeguard against
cyberthreats, fundamentally improving
overall cybersecurity protocol, while enabling
a productive and agile workforce. The reality
is that anyone with access is a risk to the
business – so safeguarding the network and
data is fundamental.
INTELLIGENTCIO
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