Companies are dealing with a dangerous security risk panorama, with ransomware, compromised electronic mail, state-sponsored hackers and provide chain vulnerabilities, among the many lead challenges.
In such a fast-evolving panorama, some consider that the firewall has develop into irrelevant, however they’re making a mistake. Actually, they’ve a vital function to play in defending organisations from assault.
The tempo of those assaults is relentless. The UK’s Nationwide Cyber Safety Centre skilled a 64% improve in risk stories throughout 2023 over 2022, whereas noting how dominant ransomware variants, comparable to Lockbit, are focusing on important infrastructure within the monetary companies, meals, agriculture, schooling and healthcare sectors.
E mail stays one other important vector. Enterprise electronic mail compromise assaults, the place criminals impersonate executives to drive via fraudulent transactions or steal information, are on the rise. The 2023 Cyber Safety Breaches Survey discovered that 79% of UK companies had skilled a phishing assault, whereas 31% had been impersonated by one other social gathering on-line or by way of electronic mail.
Collaboration apps have additionally develop into a serious goal, with hackers utilizing chat functions and messages as a automobile for phishing messages and malware.
The place hackers aren’t attacking organisations instantly, they’re doing it via provide chain assaults, utilizing compromised accounts, web sites or companies from one organisation to launch assaults on others.
Throughout 2023, attackers exploited vulnerabilities within the MagicLine4NX security authentication program and the Net-based MOVEit Switch file-transfer software to steal information from enterprise customers.
A March 2023 assault on VoIP software program from 3CX enabled hackers to breach a number of high-profile organisations around the globe. Neither is virtualised infrastructure secure: cybercriminals are actually focusing on the hypervisor layer.
Issues can solely develop tougher as soon as hackers harness the ability of generative AI. As a current weblog by Talos Intelligence places it, AI can ‘analyse huge quantities of data, together with leaked information’ and use it ‘to determine vulnerabilities or excessive worth targets, enabling extra exact and efficient assaults.
As these threats evolve, Cisco’s next-generation Safe Firewalls are evolving to match, changing the previous idea of a single perimeter with a number of micro-perimeters overlaying the total vary of infrastructure, delivered via a mixture of bodily, digital and cloud-native home equipment.
Deep integration between core community and security features defend gadgets and customers each on premise and dealing remotely. Purposes could be safeguarded whether or not they’re working on an area server or in personal and public cloud.
Most significantly, next-generation firewalls give IT and security groups the visibility and constant, unified management they should safe hybrid estates, utilizing analytics and streamlined coverage administration to cut back security workloads and triage incoming threats.
Distant employees can have extremely safe entry to enterprise assets, whereas high-performance encrypted site visitors inspection and risk prevention capabilities defend all information and functions.
A current report by Forrester discovered that, by utilizing Cisco Safe Firewalls, organizations might cut back their community operation workstreams by 95%, the time to research threats by 49%, and response instances by 83%.
Due to simplified migration instruments, shifting to those next-gen firewalls could be comparatively simple, with the merging of configurations and coverage optimisation taken care of as a part of the method. In a threatening panorama, next-gen firewalls can nonetheless imply the distinction between a vulnerability and a breach. Learn extra about Cisco’s subsequent technology firewall know-how.
