This article is the second in a two-part series focused on cybersecurity solutions from Dell EMC for businesses. View the first part here.
Business leaders whose companies have been cyber-attacked may not realize that one way to protect themselves is to have experts try to crack their defences in order to make them stronger.
"We have one of the largest groups of cybersecurity specialists in the world," says Conor Duffy, Dell EMC's global solutions strategist. "Sitting in our counter-threat unit, these experts are focused on protecting and securing our clients' data around the clock."
Cybersecurity specialists are hired to plot and scheme ways to breach security in clients' IT systems. They look for openings in firewalls, services or VPNs (virtual private networks) that are porous, and even engage in "social engineering" — calling client companies' employees to see if they give away information inadvertently.
It's all part of a process called "penetration testing," known as "pen testing," to help clients determine weaknesses in their cybersecurity system. Protection against hackers is crucial for 21st-century businesses. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, cybercrime will cost the world $6-trillion per year by 2021. The global research and publishing company, which is headquartered in Silicon Valley, also predicts that global spending on cybersecurity products and services for defending against cybercrime is projected to exceed $1-trillion (U.S.) cumulatively over the next five years, from 2017 to 2021.
The increasing importance of cybersecurity has led a not-for-profit consortium in Britain to reopen Bletchley Park, the Government Code and Cypher School where renowned mathematician Alan Turing cracked the Nazis' secret codes.
The rejuvenated Bletchley, scheduled to open in 2018, is undergoing an $8-million (£5-million) renovation to become a new National College of Cyber Security that will train up to 500 students in combating cyber threats.
"The average medium-sized business cannot afford to employ the best cybersecurity specialists internally to better protect against cyber threats," Mr. Duffy notes. "Dell EMC offers clients reliability and world-class protection by enabling them to outsource their cybersecurity needs cost-efficiently.
"It is mission-critical to protect data, secure it and make sure it's reliable. Cybersecurity has to be personal for those at the executive leadership level. It has to be front and centre."
One of the key challenges for medium-sized businesses is confronting cybersecurity while maintaining productivity. A 2016 survey conducted by Okta, a San Francisco—based on-line security firm, found that 52 per cent of the 300 companies polled believe security either compromises or restricts productivity.
"Cybersecurity is critical to a company's success, but it can't become a burden that prevents people from doing their job," Mr. Duffy says. "The best security protects your data but enables your company to operate efficiently."
He notes that many companies take a "perimeter" approach to securing data — putting up firewalls to prevent external intruders from penetrating their servers. However, this offers only limited protection, as firewall technology does not insulate businesses from breaches within the wall.
Companies need to be multidimensional when it comes to security, Mr. Duffy warns, as the world goes through what is known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Digital Age. The fourth revolution is based on the Internet of Things — devices talking to each other through sensors — an era bringing advances, yet making it easier to share information that needs to be protected.
According to PwC's Global State of Information Security Survey 2017, businesses are adopting new technologies and approaches to cybersecurity in order to address risks associated with the Internet of Things. In fact, nearly six out of ten (59 per cent) of companies surveyed by PwC have increased their spending on cybersecurity due to the digitization of their business.
"Sale of a product or service is no longer a one-time event; companies are providing add-on digital services throughout the product life cycle. Customers expect that these products be wrapped in an intuitive, engaging digital package that also protects their sensitive data. As a result, a highly secure digital experience has become a must-have capability," notes the PwC report.
"You have to deliver those services in a secure manner, so that the customer continues to trust its interaction with you as a company and with the product," says Christopher O'Hara, PwC's U.S. co-leader of cybersecurity and privacy. "Cybersecurity becomes a part of the fabric of what these companies offer both in products and services, as well as customer trust."
Once a company's vulnerability has been determined — which can be done through a pen test — its data can be encrypted at every layer, Mr. Duffy explains. With more and more business of every sort transacted over mobile devices, every hard drive, desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile phone should be equipped with encryption technology to ensure sensitive information is accessed only by authorized users.
Companies need to protect their data everywhere now, on every device, Mr. Duffy notes, because that's where the data exists.
For more business insights, visit Dell.ca/MediumBusiness
This content was produced by The Globe and Mail’s Globe Edge Content Studio, in consultation with an advertiser. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved in its creation.