What is Cyber Security?

Cyber security refers to every aspect of protecting an organization and its employees and assets against cyber threats. As cyberattacks become more common and sophisticated and corporate networks grow more complex, a variety of cyber security solutions are required to mitigate corporate cyber risk.

The Different Types of Cybersecurity

Cyber security is a wide field covering several disciplines. It can be divided into seven main pillars:

1. Network Security

Most attacks occur over the network, and network security solutions are designed to identify and block these attacks. These solutions include data and access controls such as Data Loss Prevention (DLP), IAM (Identity Access Management), NAC (Network Access Control), and NGFW (Next-Generation Firewall) application controls to enforce safe web use policies.

Advanced and multi-layered network threat prevention technologies include IPS (Intrusion Prevention System), NGAV (Next-Gen Antivirus), Sandboxing, and CDR (Content Disarm and Reconstruction). Also important are network analytics, threat hunting, and automated SOAR (Security Orchestration and Response) technologies.

2. Cloud Security

As organizations increasingly adopt cloud computing, securing the cloud becomes a major priority. A cloud security strategy includes cyber security solutions, controls, policies, and services that help to protect an organization’s entire cloud deployment (applications, data, infrastructure, etc.) against attack.

While many cloud providers offer security solutions, these are often inadequate for the task of achieving enterprise-grade security in the cloud. Supplementary third-party solutions are necessary to protect against data breaches and targeted attacks in cloud environments.

3. Endpoint Security

The zero-trust security model prescribes creating micro-segments around data wherever it may be. One way to do that with a mobile workforce is using endpoint security. With endpoint security, companies can secure end-user devices such as desktops and laptops with data and network security controls, advanced threat prevention such as anti-phishing and anti-ransomware, and technologies that provide forensics such as endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions.

4. Mobile Security

Often overlooked, mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones have access to corporate data, exposing businesses to threats from malicious apps, zero-day, phishing, and IM (Instant Messaging) attacks. Mobile security prevents these attacks and secures the operating systems and devices from rooting and jailbreaking. When included with an MDM (Mobile Device Management) solution, this enables enterprises to ensure only compliant mobile devices have access to corporate assets.

5. IoT Security

While using Internet of Things (IoT) devices certainly delivers productivity benefits, it also exposes organizations to new cyber threats. Threat actors seek out vulnerable devices inadvertently connected to the Internet for nefarious uses such as a pathway into a corporate network or for another bot in a global bot network.

IoT security protects these devices with the discovery and classification of the connected devices, auto-segmentation to control network activities, and using IPS as a virtual patch to prevent exploits against vulnerable IoT devices. In some cases, the firmware of the device can also be augmented with small agents to prevent exploits and runtime attacks.

6. Application Security

Web applications, like anything else directly connected to the Internet, are targets for threat actors. Since 2007, OWASP has tracked the top 10 threats to critical web application security flaws such as injection, broken authentication, misconfiguration, and cross-site scripting to name a few.

With application security, the OWASP Top 10 attacks can be stopped. Application security also prevents bot attacks and stops any malicious interaction with applications and APIs. With continuous learning, apps will remain protected even as DevOps releases new content.

7. Zero Trust

The traditional security model is perimeter-focused, building walls around an organization’s valuable assets like a castle. However, this approach has several issues, such as the potential for insider threats and the rapid dissolution of the network perimeter.

As corporate assets move off-premises as part of cloud adoption and remote work, a new approach to security is needed. Zero trust takes a more granular approach to security, protecting individual resources through a combination of micro-segmentation, monitoring, and enforcement of role-based access controls.

The Evolution of the Cyber Security Threat Landscape

The cyber threats of today are not the same as even a few years ago. As the cyber threat landscape changes, organizations need protection against cybercriminals’ current and future tools and techniques.

Gen V Attacks

The cyber security threat landscape is continually evolving, and, occasionally, these advancements represent a new generation of cyber threats. To date, we have experienced five generations of cyber threats and solutions designed to mitigate them, including:

• Gen I (Virus): In the late 1980s, virus attacks against standalone computers inspired the creation of the first antivirus solutions.
• Gen II (Network): As cyberattacks began to come over the Internet, the firewall was developed to identify and block them.
• Gen III (Applications): Exploitation of vulnerabilities within applications caused the mass adoption of intrusion prevention systems (IPS)
• Gen IV (Payload): As malware became more targeted and able to evade signature-based defenses, anti-bot, and sandboxing solutions were necessary to detect novel threats.
• Gen V (Mega): The latest generation of cyber threats uses large-scale, multi-vector attacks, making advanced threat prevention solutions a priority.

Each generation of cyber threats made previous cyber security solutions less effective or essentially obsolete. Protecting against the modern cyber threat landscape requires Gen V cyber security solutions.

Supply Chain Attacks

Historically, many organizations’ security efforts have been focused on their applications and systems. By hardening the perimeter and only permitting access to authorized users and applications, they try to prevent cyber threat actors from breaching their networks.

Recently, a surge in supply chain attacks has demonstrated the limitations of this approach and cybercriminals’ willingness and ability to exploit them. Incidents like the SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange Server, and Kaseya hacks demonstrated that trust relationships with other organizations can be a weakness in a corporate cyber security strategy. By exploiting one organization and leveraging these trust relationships, a cyber threat actor can gain access to the networks of all of their customers.

Protecting against supply chain attacks requires a zero-trust approach to security. Partnerships and vendor relationships are beneficial for business, but we should limit access for third-party users and software to the minimum necessary for their jobs and continually monitor them.

Ransomware

While ransomware has been around for decades, it only became the dominant form of malware within the last few years. The WannaCry ransomware outbreak demonstrated the viability and profitability of ransomware attacks, driving a sudden surge in ransomware campaigns.

Since then, the ransomware model has evolved drastically. While ransomware used to only encrypt files, it now will steal data to extort the victim and their customers in double and triple extortion attacks. Some ransomware groups also threaten or employ Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks to incentivize victims to meet ransom demands.

The growth of ransomware has also been made possible by the emergence of the Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) model, where ransomware developers will provide their malware to “affiliates” to distribute in exchange for a piece of the ransom. With RaaS, many cybercrime groups have access to advanced malware, making sophisticated attacks more common. As a result, ransomware protection has become an essential component of the enterprise cyber security strategy.

Phishing 

Phishing attacks have long been the most common and effective means by which cybercriminals gain access to corporate environments. It is often much easier to trick a user into clicking a link or opening an attachment than it is to identify and exploit a vulnerability within an organization’s defenses.

In recent years, phishing attacks have only grown more sophisticated. While the original phishing scams were relatively easy to detect, modern attacks are convincing and sophisticated to the point where they can be virtually indistinguishable from legitimate emails.

Employee cyber security awareness training is not enough to protect against the modern phishing threat. Managing the risk of phishing requires cyber security solutions that identify and block malicious emails before they even reach a user’s inbox.

Malware 

Malicious software has primarily defined the different generations of cyberattacks. Those who create malware and those who defend against it are in a constant back-and-forth battle. Attackers keep coming up with new techniques to get around the latest security measures. When they succeed, a new generation of cyberattacks is born.

Today’s malicious software is fast, sneaky, and complex. The older security methods, like looking for specific signatures of known threats, don’t work as well anymore. Often, by the time security experts realize there’s a problem and respond to it, the damage is already done.

Just detecting threats isn’t good enough to protect against modern malware. We need security solutions that focus on preventing attacks from happening in the first place and stop any damage before it occurs.

Cyber Security Trends

The prevailing trends in cybersecurity often stem from a combination of reactions to prominent cyber threats, emerging technologies, and enduring security objectives. These represent some of the key trends and technologies that shape the landscape of cybersecurity in 2024:

• AI Security– The ascent of AI profoundly influences cybersecurity, encompassing both offensive and defensive aspects. On the offensive front, cyber threat actors have already employed tools like ChatGPT to enhance and streamline cyberattacks, contributing to a notable year-over-year surge in attacks across the board.
• Hybrid Mesh Firewall Platform– Organizations are progressively adopting hybrid mesh firewall platforms, integrating diverse firewall types into a unified, centrally managed security architecture. This approach allows organizations to implement firewall solutions tailored to specific environments while simultaneously ensuring centralized oversight, administration, and enforcement of policies across their entire infrastructure.
• CNAPP – Gartner has coined the term Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP) to characterize security solutions that consolidate the diverse capabilities required for cloud application security into a unified solution. This integration of multiple features into a single solution and dashboard assists in combating security. Sprawl in the cloud, empowering security teams to efficiently oversee, administer, and safeguard their cloud-based applications.
• Hybrid Data Centers- While certain organizations have fully migrated their data centers to the cloud, others have adopted cloud computing to enhance their on-premises data centers. A hybrid data center employs orchestration, allowing the seamless movement of data. And applications between on-premises and cloud-based infrastructure as required over the network.

• Comprehensive Protection

Companies now confront a broader spectrum of threats and potential attack vectors than in previous times. Cyber threat actors possess the capability to exploit vulnerabilities in conventional endpoints, mobile devices, IoT systems, and remote work infrastructure. The increased complexity in monitoring and securing a multitude of systems heightens the likelihood of oversight by security teams, potentially granting attackers access to their systems.

Achieving Comprehensive Cybersecurity with Check Point

Consolidated and constructed interworking solutions form a modern cybersecurity infrastructure. This requires partnering with a security provider. With experience in protecting all of an organization’s assets against a range of cyber threats.

Check Point offers solutions for all of an organization’s security needs, including:

• IoT Security: Check Point Quantum IoT Protect
• Cloud Security: Check Point CloudGuard
• Application Security: Check Point CloudGuard AppSec
• Endpoint Security: Check Point Harmony Endpoint
• Mobile Security: Check Point Harmony Mobile

To learn more about the threats that, Check Point solutions can help to protect against, check out the Check Point cyber security report. You’re also welcome to see Check Point’s solutions in action for yourself. With a demo and try them in your environment with a free trial.