Nomenclatures and acronyms are part of the routine of those who work in the technology area. Picture a physical archive room, the kind we see in movies and series set in hospitals or police departments, separated by a bookcase full of folders: when we get to the Privileged Access Management (or PAM) sector ⎼ look at one of them ⎼ we come across a file full of names and features that help us protect critical systems.

Under the theme “A meeting between security and efficiency”, the North American magazine Cybersecurity Review has published an article on the premises and services of senhasegura’s PAM in its most recent edition, explaining a little of the names and purposes of the mechanisms that make up the product, going through a brief explanation of the company’s history and ending with a success story. Within this entire trajectory, the goal of the article is to bring to light the mission of senhasegura to work on digital sovereignty and to defend the right to data protection of citizens and organizations, whether public or private, small or large, wherever they are.

Browsing Is a Must

Companies that were not born in the virtual environment need to migrate to this space for reasons of adaptation, brand positioning, maintenance of activities and relationship with customers. In a study performed by Statista (German market data research company) and published on Cuponation’s website, 4.66 billion people became active internet users in the first half of this year alone, which corresponds to 59.5% of the world population. With so many people consuming behind the screens, modern cybersecurity solutions – as is the case with PAM – are the walls of the corporate networks for those who provide services or leisure. 

That’s what Cybersecurity Review quotes: 

“In the ever-evolving digital landscape, cybersecurity is NOT a project anymore. In the wake of the changing digital trends and technological advancements, it is of survival for any company. The increasing cyber threats and other illicit activities make identity and access management (PAM) a crucial part of any business. The recent shift to remote work culture and increasing dependence on digital files made Privileged Access Management a focal point of every organization’s security model.

 Ineffective management of privileged access allows malicious agents to access a company’s critical information and exploit the same, threatening data privacy and aggravating security concerns. Traditional preventative cybersecurity approaches are no longer enough to withstand the rising tide of the cyber threat landscape. To deal with the current and emerging cyber threats, companies require next-generation solutions and defense capabilities, and São Paulo-based senhasegura is the one company excelling in addressing security challenges of organizations”.

Do you want to read the full article? Access the digital version of the magazine: CYBERSECURITY REVIEW – AUGUST 2021.

As technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, criminals’ skills often evolve as well, in many cases surpassing the skills of security professionals within organizations. The proof of this is that the number of successful attacks is growing every year. 

We live in a connected world. It is hard to imagine that what once started as a small number of large computers in the 1970s has grown to encompass billions of connected devices from personal computers and smartphones to Internet of Things (IoT) devices. However, the advent of personal computing has come at the price of additional security risks in everyday life. 

The risk of a cyberattack to organizations has increased exponentially. Threats can occur anywhere on the network where there is a potential vulnerability that hackers can exploit, whether through a phishing email message, a fake social media post, or even compromised hardware. 

As the number of devices increases, the potential for attacks and disruption grows as well. That is why the need for cybersecurity measures grows exponentially too. 

Keep reading this article to understand the importance of security to your business.

How Important is Information Security in Business? 

Advanced security measures are a must for any organization. Most companies do not like to talk about it, but security breaches happen constantly in unprotected means and even monthly. 

Cybercriminals are constantly looking to hack companies and many succeed. A good security system that protects IT for companies is the best defense a business can have against these threats. 

The importance of cybersecurity for a company is not only for protecting its information, but also the information of its employees and customers. 

Consequently, companies have a lot of data and information in their systems. A fact that increases the importance of security, be it of data, information, or cybersecurity in general.

The Real Cost of Information Security

Cybersecurity breaches can be costly and harmful to any organization, both in terms of finances and reputation. Recent research reported that 43% of organizations experienced a data breach involving sensitive customer or business information in the past two years. 

Based on this data, two out of five companies are hit each year by a serious breach, in which a significant amount of sensitive data is compromised. It is noticed that hardly a week goes by without at least one data breach report in the news. 

A store can have its credit card data stolen. A health insurer may have lost its policyholders’ records. The government loses records of permits – while what should have been private emails are now being posted on activist websites. It appears that no private or public organization is fully protected against cyberattacks. 

The nature of cyberattacks is much more advanced. Initially, the most common target was email, such as messages from ‘banks’ requesting account details or personal data (IDs). But as computing has advanced, cyberattacks have also moved towards larger-scale operations, which are no longer limited to an individual, but rather to businesses, financial markets, and the government sector.

According to studies conducted by IBM, the average cost of a data breach is $3.62 million, which for many companies is an unbearable cost.

Main Threats to Information Security

Here are the top challenges companies face in trying to protect their confidential information.

Malware

Malware is an infectious agent that attacks software or pieces of software with malicious code intending to cause damage to data or devices within an organization.

Vulnerability Attacks

Hackers and criminals look for vulnerabilities within companies that can facilitate their attacks. These vulnerabilities are the result of the company’s own negligence, that is, the lack of care and investment in data security.

Some of the risk factors that may go unnoticed are outdated equipment, unsecured networks, incorrect configurations, and even lack of employee training.

Phishing

This is a type of attack developed through electronic fraud. One of the more classic ways is when the criminal impersonates someone trusted by the company via email, making the target easily click on infected links. 

Some of the hidden goals in this practice are identity and banking information theft.

Availability

Some systems cannot go down, and some attacks affect exactly the stability of these systems, causing crashes that consequently damage the company’s image or, worse, affect its revenue.

Lack of Confidentiality

Some data and information must be protected and accessed only by authorized and extremely trustworthy staff. When this basic rule of protection within companies is not followed, people outside the circles of trust can gain access to this data and misuse it.

Cybersecurity is important for any organization that has critical data and information that cannot be lost or stolen. When it comes to criminal attacks, many companies are defenseless against them. 

The reason for this is, in part, due to the lack of a proper cybersecurity service. When the company is aware of the importance of cybersecurity, it will what is necessary to ensure the protection of its business. 

So, now that you know why information security matters to your organization, how about getting to know our services? You can also complement your reading with this article that explains how PAM can help companies’ cybersecurity.

In the previous article, we discussed the importance of digital transformation to business, and how this process brings various information security issues with it. Now we will talk a little bit about what are the most common cyberattacks on businesses today and what a weak cybersecurity posture can do to your business, particularly in the healthcare, technology, and payment industries.

See below why the loss of privileged credentials poses serious business risks and how your company can initiate a cyberattack response plan.

What Are Privileged Credentials?

 It is becoming more common to hear about cyberattacks developed by people inside an organization than by outside hackers. This happens because its users, and particularly its most privileged users, are the biggest threat to its cybersecurity. After all, privileged credentials are also called keys to the kingdom, as they provide access to critical actions, such as modifying domain controller settings or transferring financial resources from an organization’s accounts.

These users already have keys to your kingdom and therefore it can be incredibly difficult to identify them and prevent them from abusing their privileges. An unsatisfied employee or someone who should never have had access to sensitive data can financially harm an organization and easily destroy its reputation. 

Knowing this, everyone (not just IT and security teams) must understand what it means to be a privileged user and what you can do to help mitigate the threats they pose. Thus, in times of increased regulatory requirements, including new data protection legislation such as LGPD and GDPR, ensuring the protection of privileged credentials is more than reducing cyber risks and avoiding multi-million-dollar sanctions, it is ensuring business continuity.

What Are Cyber Threats Involving Privileged Credentials?

Because your privileged user accounts have higher access levels than other users, they need to be monitored more closely. The threats privileged user accounts pose can generally be summarized into three main categories.

Accidental Insider Threat

A significant proportion of insider threats are unintentionally caused. All users make mistakes, including those with privileged access. Due to the types of data they have access to, the mistakes privileged users make have far more serious consequences. 

A careless user can make a change to critical business data without thinking about the consequences. Or they can grant unnecessary access to a file share when there is no need for such access. All of these actions unnecessarily put data at risk.

Malicious Insider Threat

Because your privileged user accounts already have access to sensitive data, intentional misuse can be harder to detect than a stranger trying to gain illegitimate access. These people sometimes use the fact that they are not monitored as closely as other users to intentionally abuse their privileges. Their attacks can be opportunistic or premeditated, but they can be devastating anyway.

Outside Invader

External attackers often target your privileged user accounts as they can use the elevated privileges to move around the network undetected. They might try to trick your privileged users into providing them with credentials through phishing attacks, or might try to gain access through brute force.

What Are the Strategies That Can Be Used to Respond to Cyberattacks?

When an incident happens, time is crucial. The longer it takes to respond, the more likely the risks will increase. That’s why it is essential to have an incident response plan. By preparing yourself in advance, you can act quickly to identify and mitigate damage. 

Here are five important activities for developing an effective incident response plan.

Understand Cybersecurity Incidents

What is crucial here is that organizations understand what is normal in their environment and what the potential risks are. If an organization does not know what a normal scenario looks like, how would it detect the abnormal or malicious one?

An information security risk assessment conducted annually or whenever you make significant changes to your organization will help you answer these questions as you analyze how your confidential information is used and how issues can arise.

Make Sure Your Scope Is Appropriate

The number of risks you identify will be incredibly huge, and realistically you won’t be able to deal with all of them.

You must therefore decide which risks to prioritize. Your decision should be based on an assessment of each threat’s potential damage and the likelihood of its occurrence.

Create An Incident Response Plan

With your most important threats identified, it is time to create an incident response plan to deal with them. This is a six-step process:

Preparation: The policies, procedures, governance, communication plans, and technology controls you will need to detect a security incident and continue operations once it occurs.

1. Identification: Organizations need to be able to detect a potential incident. They must understand what information is available and in what location. Logs also need integrity. Can you trust that an attacker has not changed the logs?
2. Containment: How you will isolate the problem and prevent it from causing further damage.
3. Eradication: You should confirm what happened and answer any other questions the organization has.
4. Recovery: The process of returning to business as usual.
5. Lessons Learned: The processes of evaluating the implications of procedures and policies, collecting metrics, meeting reporting and compliance requirements, and identifying lessons that need to be learned.

Train Your Team

The success of your incident response plan depends on how well your team executes it. This includes not just the people responsible for creating and executing the plan, but everyone in your organization.

After all, their work can be interrupted when the plan goes into effect, so you need to make sure they are prepared. This means informing them of the plan, explaining why it is in place, and providing the necessary training to enable them to follow it.

Roles, responsibilities, dependencies, and authorization are also critical. Is the incident team empowered to make difficult and important decisions that could impact the organization’s operations?

Final Thoughts

Cybersecurity is an important topic for every business in today’s hyperconnected world. With fast-growing technologies like cloud, mobility, and virtualization, the security boundaries are a bit blurred and not every organization adequately protects its valuable and confidential information. 

As a result, cyberattacks and data leaks occur more frequently and that is why they are no surprise in the field of Information Security. With the increasing sophistication of attacks on organizations of all sizes, the question is not whether a company will suffer a cyberattack, but when that attack will occur and what the consequences will be. 

Controlling privileged actions in an organization’s infrastructure enables IT systems to be protected from any attempt to perform malicious actions such as theft or improper modifications to the environment – both inside and outside the company. 

In this context, a Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution can be considered an important tool to speed up the deployment of a cybersecurity infrastructure. Privileged Access Management is an area of identity security that helps organizations maintain full control and visibility over their most critical systems and data. 

A robust PAM solution ensures that all user actions, including those taken by privileged users, are monitored and can be audited in the event of a security breach. Privileged access control not only reduces the impact of a breach but also builds resilience against other causes of disruption, including insider threats, misconfigured automation, and accidental operator error in production environments. 

Schedule a demo and find out why senhasegura is the best-rated PAM solution (4.8/5) among competitors in Gartner Peer-insights.