CXO DX February 2021

Page 32

» INSIGHT

Making sure you have all the pieces of the cybersecurity puzzle Brian Pinnock, cybersecurity expert at Mimecast discusses the four elements can add up to a holistic cybersecurity strategy that protects customers, employees, and data from exploitation

Spare a thought for the modern CISO. The global cybercrime industry has been in overdrive since the start of the year, as threat actors capitalise on the disruption brought by the coronavirus pandemic.

email-borne attack in the coming year. This begs the question; do they have all the right measures in place to fully protect their organisation and be totally resilient?

The Mimecast Threat Centre found a dramatic increase in cyberattacks during the first 100 days of the pandemic. In Middle East and North Africa, spam attacks increased by 36% and malware by 22%.

What are the pieces of the cybersecurity puzzle? In our experience, the following four elements can add up to a holistic cybersecurity strategy that protects customers, employees, and data from exploitation:

Cybersecurity is a ‘complex puzzle’

To protect against these threats, organisations are having to build complex, multi-layered security strategies that safeguard customers, employees, and company data. The sheer volume of threats and the abundance of attack vectors makes effective cybersecurity a complex puzzle. In many cases, organisations have no clear idea of how to put those puzzle pieces together in an effective way. Encouragingly, 82% of organisations surveyed in the UAE and Saudi Arabia in Mimecast’s State of Email Security 2020 report, say they have a cyber resilience strategy or are actively rolling one out. Yet, 67% of respondents still believe it’s inevitable or likely they will suffer from an

32

CXO DX / FEBRUARY 2021

1. Visibility

Without visibility over employees, data, and your online brand, building an effective cybersecurity strategy is a bit like building a puzzle in the dark. Threat intelligence can play a vital role by providing insight into how organisations are targeted, what cyber threats have been blocked and why, which employees are the riskiest and what actions to take to optimise the broader cybersecurity strategy. However, visibility should extend beyond the perimeter of the organisation. The speed at which cybercriminals can imitate brands online, makes it easy to launch sophisticated attacks using lookalike domains that can easily trick customers, partners, and employees.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
CXO DX February 2021 by Leap Media Solutions - Issuu