It was once a glib rejoinder from the information technology security pro: The only secure computer is one that’s not connected to a network. It’s true more now than it ever was. Where in the past the model of layered security, defending perimeter within perimeter to secure the enterprise network, was an effective response to keeping attackers on the outside, new mobile technologies in an enterprise context have taken down those walls: The perimeter is always shifting, if it exists at all.
Cisco’s Annual Security Report
Meanwhile, troubling security trends continue to expose the enterprise network to threats. Black-hat hackers are becoming more sophisticated, not just in technique, but in motivation—the end-game is financial gain, not just bragging rights. And internal employees are increasingly the biggest security threat to the enterprise—sometimes willfully, but most often simply taken in by external phishing threats or being lax in applying IT security policies like creating strong passwords and changing them regularly.
With the sophistication of black hats, the increasing number of threat vectors, the dissolution of the perimeter, and the power of end users to accidentally exploit system vulnerabilities, intrusion, data theft, and exposure of network control are inevitable without a new approach to security posture.
Download Cisco Systems Inc.’s 2015 Annual Security Report and learn:
- Why eliminating default passwords, thorough encryption policies, and proper server configuration must be the IT security team’s top priorities, even over operating system and application patches.
- How segmenting transactional systems from internal systems in the network reduces exposure.
- Why effective network monitoring tools that examine traffic coming into—and going out of—the enterprise network are a critical first line of defence against a network intrusion.
- How a comprehensive disaster recovery and business continuity plan and infrastructure mitigates the risk to the enterprise.
- And why regular training—on both physical and IT-related security practices—is possibly your best investment in protecting your enterprise systems.
You’ll also learn how enterprises have created step-by-step models to detect, disrupt and deny attacks, a strategy based on the knowledge of the current threat landscape outlined in Cisco Systems Inc.’s 2015 Annual Security Report.
And while it’s critical to secure the enterprise network, it’s equally important to ensure that measures imposed don’t impede the productivity of end users. Security can’t be a roadblock to employee productivity of business innovation. Rather, it must be an engine for business growth. Discover how a comprehensive and appropriate security strategy can drive business growth while protecting its systems from intrusion, corruption and data loss by reading Cisco’s 2015 Annual Security Report.
