There are many ways you can be led astray in the world of network security, but some paths are much worse than others. Whether it’s not paying attention to emerging threats, or failing to properly segment your resources, there’s always something to watch out for.
But how do you avoid pitfalls and stay on the virtuous network security path? You’ve come to the right place. Here are the 7 deadly sins of network security, how they can bring trouble to your organization, and how to avoid them.
Let us begin…
We get it. Segmenting the network is hard. No one wants to set-up zones, configure firewalls between them, and then maintain that mess. Instead, you rely on a simple legacy VPN and a firewall at the perimeter to defend your network. That’s what everybody does, right?
But what happens when one of your employees falls for a phishing scam, and their login credentials fall into the hands of threat actors?
A whole lot of lateral movement, that’s what.
Avoid putting too much pride into your perimeter-focused solution, and confront the security landscape as it is, not how you wish it would be. To truly secure yourself from lateral movement look to a Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) strategy.
Using ZTNA you can restrict access to your applications and resources based on identity and context with continuous verification.
This ensures that users only have access to the applications and data that they need for their jobs, and nothing more. Sales doesn’t need access to the code base on the company Git server, while developers don’t need to see the lead database.
Don’t fall into bouts of extreme anger after someone on your team falls victim to a devastatingly simple Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Fatigue attack. What’s that you ask? Imagine you’ve done all the right things: you’re using SSO and you’ve deployed multi-factor authentication via a frictionless single-touch mobile app. You’ve satisfied both the company’s security requirements, and the demand from users for a mostly frictionless way to login. Then those crafty hackers get to work. After stealing login credentials, the bad guys figure that if they ping their target enough times to request a single-touch authorization on that MFA app, the victim just might get annoyed or frazzled enough to authorize that malicious login.
Unbelievable, but MFA fatigue is a very real thing.
But don’t direct your wrath towards the person who fell for it!
After all, with proper awareness training, or more advanced MFA requirements for sensitive accounts and data, this whole mess could’ve been avoided.
Even if you aren’t going around screaming “give me more, more, more” you can still stuff your organization with dozens of security tools. Hey, they all seemed like a good idea at the time, but now it’s become impossible to manage, and who knows how many security holes are being left unmitigated?
This problem, famously called tool sprawl, is easily avoided when you choose converged security solutions that offer multiple technologies in one spot. Don’t be fooled by the promise of more.
Everyone wants the cool new thing, be it the latest smartphone or laptop. If people in your organization just gotta have the latest gadget, don’t be tempted to allow just any old device onto your network. Embrace the power of Agentless Zero Trust Network Access in order to manage those unmanaged devices. Agentless ZTNA gives unmanaged devices access to select company resources through a private web portal that gives restricted access to devices you can’t control and don’t want on your network.
We all feel lethargic from time to time, but no one has time for slow VPN connections. If your VPN is all about sloth, it’s time to retire it. A cloud-based network security solution allows for more direct access to cloud resources and the Internet without the punishing backhaul to the closest company data center or branch office. That means faster connections, and happier, more efficient workers.
We get it the economy’s tough, but skimping on security isn’t going to help matters. In fact, it might just make them worse. Did you know, for example, the costs associated with a single ransomware attack top $4 million? The costs can be even higher when malicious breaches include data exfiltration.
Don’t be greedy for cuts, instead get smart and look for solutions that offer value with a lower total cost of ownership.
This is the easy one. Tired of that IT manager acquaintance of yours talking about how much easier life is, and how network emergencies rarely keep them working late? Cure that jealousy by joining the cloud-based, converged networking and network security revolution. Perimeter 81’s hardware-free, cloud-based solution includes Zero Trust Network Access that connects people only to the resources they need. Plus, the zero trust approach supports continuous verification based on identity and context. This ensures that only authorized people are accessing company data.
The Firewall-as-a-Service backs up ZTNA to help keep unwanted visitors to your cloud and on-prem resources. Malware Protection and Web Filtering, meanwhile, work together to protect your users from phishing, ransomware, Trojans, drive-by downloads, and more.
We can get your network up and running with our solution in minutes, not days or weeks, and you too can be on the path of virtue with a happy, healthy network for you and your users.
Want to learn more about the Perimeter 81 approach to network security? Book a Demo today to see how much easier network security can be.
