danny jenkins
In 2023, ransomware payments reached an all-time high, causing severe financial and reputational damage to targeted organizations. No matter how strategically organizations invest in emerging technologies to protect their data and manage their infrastructure, cybercriminals often appear to be one step ahead.
In this new landscape, traditional defenses are proving insufficient to stop malware and other attacks. With artificial intelligence (AI) at their disposal, cybercriminals are launching attacks that are faster, more sophisticated, and harder to detect than ever before. AI-driven malware can adapt in real time, learn from defenses, and precisely exploit vulnerabilities, allowing them to bypass traditional security systems undetected.
To harden their systems, organizations are increasingly adopting zero trust, a cybersecurity model based on the principle of “never trust, always verify.”
What is Zero Trust?
If someone knocks on your door, do you treat that person as trustworthy unless they seem suspicious, or do you assume anyone can be dangerous until proven otherwise? mosquito?
Traditionally, the cybersecurity industry has done the former. This meant actively scanning for threats while implicitly trusting the users, systems, and applications within the network. While this attitude may make you a good neighbor, in cyberspace it also exposes your organization to the risk of disastrous attacks and data breaches.
A better way to protect your business is to adopt a zero trust philosophy that verifies users, devices, and applications and denies access to anything your organization doesn’t trust until it can determine which entities can be trusted. . In today’s digital environment, this model is required to provide the visibility and IT controls needed to secure every device, user, app, and network that has access to business data.
Until now, implementing a Zero Trust approach has been difficult, time-consuming, and costly. Organizations wanting to change their cybersecurity strategy to zero trust are faced with a complex and expensive set of options that some find discouraging and others find unattainable. I did.
Fortunately, new solutions are making it easier and more affordable for organizations of all sizes to transition to Zero Trust. Organizations of all sizes now have access to a comprehensive Zero Trust endpoint solution that provides easy-to-manage tools to block untrusted software, control application behavior, and manage user administrative privileges. I did.
But this alone is not enough. When choosing a Zero Trust cybersecurity strategy, you need to ensure you get a solution with lightning-fast support to take full advantage of its protection capabilities.
Zero Trust Practice
Hattiesburg Clinic, a healthcare network with 17 locations across Mississippi, has long suffered from malware attacks, but we are fortunate to have never experienced a ransomware attack. did.
Hattiesburg’s information security team knew they couldn’t just wait for an attack on their network to occur. Organizations needed to act first before a breach threatened the security of employee, partner, or patient data.
One challenge is the increasing number of threat actors who can bypass detection tools without triggering them. We have a dedicated staff of 2,000 people, each vulnerable to phishing attacks and unapproved software that can inadvertently introduce malicious code beyond employee cybersecurity training and official software policies. or USB drives are not sufficient to prevent individuals from installing them.
Hattiesburg has adopted and implemented a Zero Trust strategy to protect the environment. This includes preventing employees from running unapproved software. If you need new software for business purposes, you can request approval from your information security team. “You never know what software will do to your computer, so being able to control what gets installed is invaluable,” said Jerry Robinson, the clinic’s director of information security.
ThreatLocker provided cybersecurity software to support Hattiesburg’s new default deny policy. We’ve also established a rapid-response Cyber Hero support team of dedicated engineers who work with our network of clinics to continually review emerging issues and find solutions in real-time. “There aren’t many vendors who will go that far to provide that level of support,” Robinson says.
Safer way of working
Cyber threats can cripple any company and its customers, including healthcare organizations, businesses, and governments. As risks proliferate and become more sophisticated, a Zero Trust mindset can help organizations protect both their valuable data and customers.
Organizations need cybersecurity to proactively defend against emerging threats and give IT professionals control over cyber defenses and protocols. A Zero Trust approach stops malicious software in its tracks, prevents the weaponization of legitimate tools, and prevents unauthorized applications from running.
The quest to outsmart cybercriminals with each new threat is a losing battle. Using a Zero Trust approach, business leaders and IT professionals can have confidence that their organizations are protected from the most advanced cybersecurity threats.
Danny Jenkins is the CEO and co-founder of ThreatLocker.
Not sure how to get started with cybersecurity? Learn about Zero Trust strategies and ThreatLocker security technology.
