By Nick Walker, Regional Director EMEA, NetSPI
There have been 2.29 million cyber-attacks on UK businesses in the last 12 months, with ransomware attacks increasing by 70%. These shocking figures not only highlight the growing scale of cyber threats but that businesses are also becoming increasingly vulnerable to them.
It’s clear that cybersecurity is no longer confined to the realm of IT departments and tech experts; it has become a concern for every individual in the organisation. In fact, PWC’s Global Digital Insights survey found that cyber budgets in 2024 are increasing at a much higher rate than last year, as “mega breaches” rise in number, scale and cost.
When security can’t keep up with the pace of innovation, the ability to deliver bottom-line results is at stake. To innovate with confidence, organisations need proactive security at the core of their cybersecurity programme. But what exactly is proactive security, why is there a growing need for this approach, and how can organisations ensure their security programmes aren’t just reactive?
Defining proactive security
Traditionally, many businesses tend to operate cyber security defensively or reactively. For instance, patching vulnerabilities or implementing a new security tool after experiencing a breach. This is especially the case for organisations that belong to an industry with significant regulatory or government compliance pressures, such as financial services or healthcare. This approach is no longer fit for purpose – that’s where proactive security comes into play.
Eric Parizo, Principal Analyst at Omdia, defines proactive security as: “…technologies (including those provided as services) that enable organizations to seek out and mitigate likely threats and threat conditions before they pose a danger to the extended IT environment.”
Essentially, a proactive security approach hinges on the anticipation of cyber threats before they materialise into actual breaches. It involves staying one step ahead of the hackers by identifying vulnerabilities before they are exploited by bad actors. Contrary to a reactive approach, dedicated security teams will focus on the entire scope of an organization’s security posture – specifically how to identify, protect (against), detect, and respond to risk.
Let’s also clarify what proactive security is not – it is not a collection of disjointed, temporary solutions that are one trick ponies. This sentiment only creates more confusion and tool fatigue and it may give a false sense of security if those solutions aren’t properly configured or validated. Proactive security is also not knee-jerk reactions to cyber threats – gone are the days of one-off escalated events, too many alerts, and flashing screens. Security teams do not need to respond to everything in their systems; we must be more strategic than that.
What is driving the need for proactive security?
In today’s threat landscape, hackers are finding new ways to breach the security of corporations and one of the tools they are using is artificial intelligence (AI). AI, specifically generative AI such as ChatGPT and the like, has become a powerful tool in their arsenal using the technology to automate attacks, create convincing phishing messages, develop more evasive malware or crack passwords. While AI can help cyber defenders, it also means an expanded attack surface across the organisation which can leave assets exposed and vulnerable to adversaries.
Alongside this, businesses have had to address the growing demand for cloud computing infrastructure, as well as adopt new digital identity technologies to not only satisfy customer needs, but continue innovating at record speed.
A holistic, proactive approach to cybersecurity
Despite the large investments many companies have made in detective controls, they often struggle to detect tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) used by real-world threat actors during sustained and sophisticated attack campaigns. On top of this, the expanding attack surface and ever-changing parameters puts security controls to the test so gaining visibility into external facing assets, vulnerabilities and exposures is a time-consuming and difficult challenge.
The goal is to help businesses address these issues more easily with a combination of right technology and right people to provide expert, tailored guidance. While there isn’t a one size fits all approach, here are the steps to ensuring a holistic approach to your proactive security programme:
- Identify: This starts with penetration testing, to provide a snapshot of an organisation’s current environment.
- Protect: A continuous assessment of the external attack surface is carried out.
- Detect: Identify a vulnerability and run a play in a breach and attack simulation solution to detect whether a threat would be identified by your security stack.
- Respond: Complete a Red Team engagement to ensure the team would be able to successfully defend and respond to that threat.
By following these steps, organisations can enhance their cybersecurity posture, proactively address vulnerabilities, and bolster their resilience against cyber threats. This approach not only helps in mitigating risks but also fosters a culture of proactive security within the organisation.
With cybercrime on the rise and only 15% of UK businesses having a formal cybersecurity incident management plan – there has never been a better time to get proactive about security. As AI continues to infiltrate organisations and cloud computing continues to evolve, business leaders must gain a better understanding of their IT stack and overall security posture to minimise potential gaps and exposures. Innovation – and business success – depends on it.
