How To Respond To The Threat Landscape

The days of the reactive approach to cyber attack vectors are fast fading. The problem is, in this new age of cyber attacks targeting organisations on the open internet, you can no longer wait for the threats to come to you.

With our modern dependence on technology and security, responses to the threat landscape have slowly but surely evolved into an aspect of cyber resilience. It is now part and personal for organisations to understand that security culture needs to be embedded into everything an organisation does.

“Responding to the threat landscape is an art of dynamism, and adapting away from legacy security systems” explained Harrison Mwashuma, an IT Security Consultant at Fortinet. This gives rise to the understanding that threat intelligence is knowledge that allows you to prevent or mitigate those attacks.

Rooted in data, threat intelligence provides context — like who is attacking you, what their motivation and capabilities are, and what indicators of compromise in your systems to look for — that helps you make informed decisions about your security.

“Threats are evolving just as fast as defence mechanisms” added Mwashuma. Despite efforts from organizations, these attacks show no sign of slowing down. The level of sophistication and the capabilities of the perpetrators continue to grow.

To overcome the challenge of skills shortage, appropriate responses to the threat environment revolve around security teams to focus less on repetitive tasks and more on threat hunting. By gathering events and alerts from disparate security tools, the information can be aggregated into a unified platform which acts as force multiplier and reduces response time.

The Cloud and Security Summit unfolds as the digital revolution begins to take root in Kenya. The country’s digital imprint is on the verge of making considerable strides through the advent of new and upcoming technologies. To realize the full potential of digital business, security and risk management must be idealized. The Cloud and Security summit bridged the gap between IT practitioners and the ever evolving link between cloud and security.