How to keep up-to-date with cyber security (without suffering information overload)
Let’s face it: it’s really, really hard to stay up-to-date with everything cyber security. Why? Because there is so much going on, and the threat landscape changes every day.
The past three years have been a game changer for the global cyber security threat landscape, for a few reasons:
- Remote Work: Most of us agree, remote work is great – and for many companies, it’s here to stay. However, the widespread use of personal devices, home networks, and unsecured connections and applications also expanded the attack (exposure) surface for many.
- Increased Cyber Attacks: Bad actors and cyber criminals seem to be lurking around every corner, with their increasingly sophisticated methods: including phishing, ransomware and malware attacks. Many attacks are designed to exploit the very tools that we love to use when we’re working remotely.
- Focus on Cloud and Digital Transformation: Many “cloud first” initiatives and digital transformation programs have picked up the pace over the past three years. Almost every industry has been affected – from technology and financial services; to not-for-profit, manufacturing and logistics. As a result, the overall impact of any cyber event is far greater than it would have been just a few years ago.
For many of us, cloud security and the need to secure APIs and microservices have become critical issues.
In fact, there’s so much going on that even highly trained experts are finding it hard to keep up-to-date with the world of cyber security. Recent research has uncovered some concerning trends. Nearly one-third of staff from a sample of Security Operations Centres (SOCs) around the world report they are impacted by:
- Inability to prioritise threats
- Difficulty operating too many tools
- Too many alerts to chase
- Information overload.
Yikes. If highly skilled SOC professionals are having trouble staying up-to-date with cyber security, what hope does anyone else have?
The good news is there is a way to stay on top of things. Yes, you can keep your security monitoring aligned to the current threat landscape – and keep up-to-date with the complex world of cyber security – without facing complete burnout. Eliminate the noise by keeping these principles front-of-mind.
Don’t commit to doing it yourself. Please.
We’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating. For most Australian organisations, it doesn’t make sense to build and maintain your own cyber security practice. Here’s why.
Like the rest of the world, Australia is suffering a huge skills gap when it comes to tech roles. We simply don’t have enough trained and qualified professionals. If you want to build and maintain your own cyber security team, be prepared to pay big money to not only hire them but also retain them and train them to keep them up-to-date.
And just in case you were wondering – no, you can’t get away with having one cyber security professional on your staff. Monitoring, analysing, and responding to threats is a 24x7x365 job, and it requires a full and diverse team, bringing a range of perspectives and skill sets.
This is why we advocate for managed security services. Think of it as cyber security as a service: outsourcing the heavy lifting so you can focus on what you do best, without compromising on the outcomes, i.e.:
- Efficient security monitoring
- Faster incident response
- Fewer false positives
- Valuable insights.
When you’re selecting a managed security partner, we always suggest looking closely at the quality and diversity of the SOC team – you can read more about that here.
A SOC team with very deep experience is also a strong indication that the security partner will have the skills and experience to stay ahead of threats as they emerge – and that they have the processes in place to prevent information overload from ever becoming an issue.
If you want to stay up-to-date with cyber security, the tools matter.
Five years ago, you had to really search to find news and information about cyber security. If you wanted to stay up-to-date, it meant following the right experts on social media and subscribing to the right newsletters.
These days you only have to point your web browser to any major news site and there’s a good chance you’re going to see a story about the latest data breach or cyber attack. It’s the top of the news agenda – hence the little problem with information overload we mentioned above.
When it comes to staying up-to-date with cyber security intelligence, there is a much smarter way to do things. With the right tools for threat intelligence, you can stay on top of changes in the threat landscape – without manually trawling through hundreds of different information sources.
Threat intelligence tools have benefited from advances in technologies such as automation and deep learning. They are monitoring the global threat landscape constantly and using this data to develop blueprints for attack types and patterns, no matter where they happen.
When you combine the right threat intelligence tools with the right people to translate the insights into action, you’re going to have better incident prevention and faster response. It really is that simple.
How can we help?
Our managed security services are provided by some of the most skilled cyber security professionals in the country, from one of the most technologically advanced SOCs in the world. Our proprietary Cyber Threat Intelligence Platform, built on Sentinel, takes full advantage of the latest thinking in automation, orchestration, AI and machine learning.
We’d love to discuss working together to prevent cyber security breaches against your organisation. Contact us on 1800 004 943 or email enquiries@macquariecloudservices.com to find out more.
