Page 11 - EngineerIT December 2021

ICT CYBER SECURITY

business, which means that they are less
likely to have the insight and experience of
a specialist security provider. Some level of
protection is certainly better than having
no protection at all, but a security solution
provided by a web or data centre service
platform cannot compete – or provide the
same level of security and peace of mind
that a specialist vendor can.
This is particularly true in a post- “Similarly, if an organisation does
COVID-19-lockdown period, when as many fall prey to a malware attack, it is the
as 41% of South Africans intend to work specialists who are going to be best
from locations other than their office in equipped to stop the spread of the
the future, 10% of those remote workers attack, isolate its cause, and address it
Carlo Bolzonello
taking no specific measures to secure their appropriately to minimise loss to the
connections to the internet, and a further business. Without this speciality in place,
three percent admitting that they didn’t waiting for an inadequately equipped Addressing emerging threats
know how to even begin the process of vendor’s response is likely to cost a There are ways for organisations to
implementing a security solution. vulnerable business even more,” he adds. be proactive and actionable against
The research revealed that 40% of Having a plan in place to address security cybercrime, such as implementing
South African organisations had upgraded breaches is vital for any organisation, security measures and industry-wide
their cybersecurity solutions over the last Bolzonello explains, adding that it should cybersecurity requirements, providing
18 months independently, while 55% of be treated with even more gravity than cybersecurity awareness training for
those who had completed an upgrade did a building’s emergency and evacuation employees, and developing prevention
so with the help of a cybersecurity vendor. strategies. Bolzonello advises that in-depth and response plans. In addition,
“With four in ten local companies scenario planning activities are carried enterprises and commercial business can
choosing to specify their own combination out regularly to ensure that all possible implement cloud-delivered security with
of cloud security, advanced threat security, responses are prepared for, as a vital practice MVISION Unified Cloud Edge (UCE) and
endpoint security and mobile security for surviving a cybersecurity attack. McAfee Enterprise & FireEye Extended
solutions, many are doing so by trusting “It’s all very well having the best Detection and Response (XDR). n
the security solutions provided by their tools in the business, but if you haven’t
web services or data centre service read the user’s manual or practiced what About the survey
providers, and in turn, have a false sense to do in an attack scenario, including Cybercrime in a pandemic
of security about the extent of their true communicating to affected stakeholders, world: The impact of COVID-19
protection,” Bolzonello says. chaos will ensue,” Bolzonello warns. survey methodology
“These platform-owned security “Avoiding this will protect your brand’s
solutions are not those vendors’ core reputation among key stakeholders, too.” McAfee Enterprise and FireEye
commissioned a global independent
market research specialist, MSI-ACI, to
undertake the research for this study.
Between September and October 2021,
the quantitative study was carried out,
interviewing 1,451 IT and line of business
decision makers. Respondents came
from the U.S., U.K., Australia, France,
Germany, India, Singapore, South Africa
and UAE. Respondents had to be IT
business professionals, involved in IT
security and working for an organisation
with more than 500 employees.
Interviews were conducted online
using a rigorous, multi-level screening
process to ensure that only suitable
candidates were given the opportunity
to participate.

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