Any channel partners tired of playing piggy-in-the-middle might be happy to hear there’s a new game in town. It’s called cyber-dominoes. No, it’s not a new take on an old game. It’s more akin to a cyber variant on the infamous domino theory from the Cold War era, except instead of countries it applies to companies and what happens if ISP and hosting providers fail to provide adequate network security.
According to the annual Global Application and Security Report from Radware, cyber-criminals are taking a growing interest in areas that they tended to neglect previously. MicroScope reports that the survey of 330 companies found hosting companies, which had been considered low-risk in previous reports, were among those most at risk, along with ISPs, the government and the gambling sector.
The report has interesting implications for channel companies providing managed services, especially if they are doing so on another company’s behalf because they could be reselling services with inadequate security.
Adrian Crawley, UK & Ireland regional director for Radware, argued the results presented “a stark reality for channel companies moving into managed services. If they fail to ensure their network security planning is robust then there’s no doubt 2015 will see a great number of ‘cyber-dominoes’ fall”, he claimed.
Crawley said channel companies needed to know ISP and hosting technologies “inside out” and understand the implications to plan mitigation strategies for their own operations and those of their customers.
It’s probably no surprise that ne’er do wells are interested in attacking ISPs and hosting companies because they represent a more effective way to wreak mayhem on a larger number of businesses than if they were to try and attack them individually. If they succeed, it really could be like knocking a load of dominoes over.
The difficulty for channel partners, however, is that it can be hard for them to know how robust the network security is at the ISP and hosting companies they deal with. That’s not the worst of it because they also face the prospect of being held to blame if something does go wrong. And customers aren’t going to be interested in excuses from their channel partners.
The question is whether there’s anything channel partners can realistically do to try and ensure nothing goes wrong, when they’re not the ones under attack. If they can’t guarantee ISPs and hosting companies can provide the optimum level of security, where does that leave them? After all, they’re not the first domino to fall if hackers hit ISPs or hosting companies. By the time their domino topples, it could be way too late to do anything for their customers.
Forget the dominoes, it looks like channel partners will still be playing piggy-in-the-middle after all.
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