Extra tags: Ransomware
Cybersecurity concerns continue to keep security teams on their toes, especially with the acceleration of digital transformation and widespread embrace of the work from anywhere model.
The biggest threat to organisations, at least for the time being, remains to be ransomware, as Fortinet found in a study released in September 2021. And executives are rightfully concerned, with as high as 76% of those surveyed being very or extremely concerned about ransomware, and 85% considering it as the most worrying threat out there—more worrisome than Trojans, viruses and other forms of attack.
But threats of all kinds loom large, and they underscore the need for organisations to deploy a robust security posture to protect against a variety of threats that include, of course, ransomware. One way to accomplish that is to deploy a Cybersecurity Mesh Architecture (CSMA), which Gartner highly recommends and considers among this year’s top strategic technology trends as it integrates disparate security tools into a single, interoperable ecosystem.
This seamless, simplified and unified approach is timely and necessary given how networks have gotten more complex and more distributed. In this context, the point product approach to threat detection and response is no longer the best security strategy, as it only complicates security management, fragments visibility and limits the organisation’s overall ability to respond to threats effectively. The reason being is that this point product approach oftentimes results in organisations deploying an average of 45 security solutions across their networks, thus making coordination—a requirement to detect and respond to any cyber incident—nearly impossible.
CSMA eliminates those problems by eliminating cybersecurity complexities while enhancing overall security, enabling security controls to work together instead of functioning as separate entities. It is the kind of “best-of-breed AND integrated” approach that organisations need to deploy nowadays. Aside from reducing the complexities of security, CSMA also automates and speeds up threat response, thereby making it the ideal security architecture for these modern, fast-paced times full of threats—each seemingly more elusive and sophisticated than the next.
Just any CSMA, however, will not cut it, as an effective cybersecurity mesh platform must have four necessary capabilities. These capabilities are as follows:
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It is broad. A CSMA platform must be able to distribute security controls across the network, including the cloud, the devices connected to it and all application edges. Encompassing the entire network ensures broad visibility and comprehensive protection throughout the entire attack surface to enable better risk management and enhanced security.
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It is integrated. Integration is obviously a hallmark of a CSMA, as integrating a gamut of security solutions in a single pane of glass reduces, if not eliminates entirely, the complexities of cybersecurity. In addition, an integrated platform enables threat intelligence sharing across the entire deployment.
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It is automated. Automation is a key enabler of any good cybersecurity infrastructure, as it enables faster analysis of data, as well as faster detection and, in case of an attack, faster and better response and intervention. It is, thus, important to choose a platform that enables deployed solutions to work together seamlessly and automatically and offers automated self-healing networks augmented by Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven security.
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It has an open ecosystem. A robust CSMA leverages technology partners to enhance the platform even more. This is the essence of having an open ecosystem, where security solutions from different providers are integrated into the existing architecture, thus breaking down technology and vendor silos and making the platform even better and more comprehensive.
All four capabilities can be found in Fortinet, whose commitment for over a decade now has been to provide a broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity mesh platform—but with an open ecosystem to leverage the cybersecurity strengths of other security vendors. This platform is the Fortinet Security Fabric, and it is the industry’s highest-performing cybersecurity mesh platform in the world to date.
To this end, Fortinet offers a comprehensive portfolio of over 50 security and networking technologies specifically engineered from the ground up to work together seamlessly as one unified system. It also consolidates a host of cybersecurity solutions from other vendors—Secure SD-WAN, for example—that can, together with Fortinet’s existing technologies, share threat intelligence, correlate data and respond automatically to threats. Fortinet, in fact, has more than 450 third-party Fabric-Ready Partners that are currently part of the Fortinet Security Fabric, with more potentially coming in the future.
Put simply, organisations need to reconsider their existing cybersecurity given today’s rapid digital acceleration and the growing threat of cybercrime. And one thing they ought to seriously think about is deploying a cybersecurity mesh platform—like the Fortinet Security Fabric.
Visit the official Fortinet website to find out more about the world’s highest-performing cybersecurity mesh platform or get a free demo here.
