As we move towards a world where more and more aspects of the enterprise are empowered by technology, the need for the IT department to maintain vigilance in protecting against threats has never been greater. But when it comes to assessing which projected risks are likely to be the most dangerous, it is hard to know which are the most pressing. There have been many predictions made for 2014, but which are the ones that matter for enterprise?
While it is impossible to be on hundred per cent sure in advance which threats are going to be the ones that cause a problem, according to those in a position to know, it is possible to predict some things with a certain degree of accuracy. In particular, when it comes to security, some things never change and the best predictor of future performance is past performance.
Clever social engineering on the part of a hacker or malware owner can neutralise a lot of security systems extremely easily. As Kevin Mitnick famously put it, ‘amateurs hack computers, professionals hack people’ and he’s dead right, Dermot Williams, Threatscape
Weak link
“One thing we stress at the start of every year to our customers is that people are the weak link,” says Dermot Williams of Threatscape.
“You can get too caught up in the technology solutions that are out there, forgetting that everything falls apart if you don’t have proper training and policies for the people using the computers.”
From this point of view, he argues that the best security advice has not changed in 20 years – prudent and trained staff will defeat a lot of potential threats before they get out of the starting gate.
“Clever social engineering on the part of a hacker or malware owner can neutralise a lot of security systems extremely easily. As Kevin Mitnick famously put it, ‘amateurs hack computers, professionals hack people’ and he’s dead right. Why spend a week trying to hack a security system when you can spend five minutes on the phone fooling someone into giving you their password?”
On top of this, Williams is convinced that the most significant threats facing Irish enterprises in 2014 are likely to be the same as those in 2013.
“In particular though, I think people will become even more aware of the importance of looking after customer data because of issues to do with privacy and reputation. If there’s any sort of breach with that kind of data, it will really hurt your company,” he says.
“Customers will vote with their feet and even if you don’t suffer a direct financial loss as a result of a breach, the loss of customer confidence will make itself felt on the bottom line down the line.”
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