How exactly does new and emerging technology help with cyber security and raising cyber security awareness? Does it prevent sensitive data getting into the wrong hands and protect against other cyber threats?
We look at how emerging technologies and ideas are helping to not just develop cyber security programmes and advance cyber security campaigns but safeguard the future of business.
When did technology start?
The “missing link” between technology and security
Let’s take it back to the beginning. 3.3 million years ago when early hominids carved flaked stone into knives in Lake Turkana, Kenya, they were making the first form of technology. It’s no coincidence that it formed the first part of security as well.
We weren’t quite in the realms of modern cyber security yet, but the instinctive need for security is as essential a human need as that for food or water. We simply cannot survive without protecting against threats, whether we are protecting ourselves from animals, or a modern computer virus.
Technology: what is it good for?
Catching up with the need for cyber security
The word technology comes from the Greek word ‘techne’ meaning arts. And the ancient poets’ Homer and Hesiod defined technology as the spoken word of manual craft or cunning. Since then, our cunning and ingenuity has developed remarkable technology to the point where it is not a question of if, but when intelligent machines will eclipse human intelligence.
It’s now painfully clear that emerging technology is advancing faster than the people trying to use it. And with so much sensitive data now stored on software, hardware, and the Cloud, it’s a threat landscape that demands technology meets the need for cyber security. No business can afford a data breach and we are all looking to emerging technology for answers.
The internet and cyber security
Why the internet has created a new threat landscape
The Internet of Things (IoT), which connects and integrates devices and appliances through the internet, is just one of many emerging technologies that once successfully integrated into our lives, has rendered the world unrecognisable almost overnight.
But with rapid growth comes vulnerability. As hackers learn to exploit the loopholes in emerging technology, the consequences can be devastating for businesses and individuals. Unlike a typical cyber hack, an IoT hack could put your life at risk and result in physical damage as well as the loss of sensitive personal data. IoT devices can be used to spy on you, steal from you and even taunt you!
Emerging technology begins to offer answers
How cyber security advances along with technology
Fortunately, as technology advances, cyber security retains pace. Governments and corporations are keeping abreast with technology and inventing new ways to train employees in the latest threats to data storage and cyber security.
One programme addressing the need for cyber security awareness in organisations is Kaspersky’s Lab security Awareness. The enterprise has launched a family of computer-based training products that utilise the latest learning techniques to highlight the relevance of cyber security to individuals.
Lab security Awareness uses automated learning management, live tracking of data, trends, forecasts and on-the-fly analysis of the potential for improvement where needed, to adapt to the ever-changing landscape of threats.
Cyber security in a remote-working world
How working from home is changing cyber security practices
In a global survey conducted by Gartner of 317 CFOs and business finance leaders, it found that 74% plan to move their previously on-site workforce to permanently remote positions post COVID-19. Many businesses now use Cloud storage technology to communicate and collaborate with employees, but remote networks also pose a new threat landscape with its own data breach risks.
SonicWall is a pioneering technology that addresses the changing security needs of increasingly remote-working businesses. They offer Cloud Application Security, Signatureless End Point Protection, which provides email security and data protection, and a SD-WAN that connects remote networks from anywhere in the world to a central location.
SonicWall’s Capture real-time deep memory inspection (RTDMI) is unique and provides threat detection, intelligence and remediation of malware that attempts to hide on the server/processor memory.
Cyber security in the Cloud
More reliance on Cloud computing and Cloud Storage
Kasperky’s security for Office 365 is ideal for protecting Cloud-based businesses as it stops the spread of malicious software, phishing, ransomware, spam and business email compromise.
To secure remote devices, StoreCraft’s Cloud Backup is ideal for protecting critical data, whether it’s located remotely or in the Cloud. It protects, encrypts and makes data available through an intuitive web-based interface. Users can quickly recover a file, folder or account data in its original format.
The future of cyber security
Cyber security programmes of tomorrow
IoT devices and emerging technologies are progressively integrating into our lives. This means cyber security is a necessity, much like primitive weapons were necessary to early hominids. Of course, technology’s modern-day reincarnations would be unimaginable to our ancestors.
But civilisations progress by reusing the ideas and innovations of their predecessors. And cyber security still serves the same intent as its early incarnations: to safeguard our most fundamental rights and needs against the threat landscape of the day.
We’re covering all you need to know about cyber security! Check out our other articles to learn more about cyber hygiene and how to improve your cyber security programmes and campaigns.