Adaptive Security

What is adaptive security? 

Adaptive security is a security approach that continuously monitors user activity and responds to any potential cyber threat by adapting to the changing situation. It can be more user-friendly or more secure than legacy security solutions that focus on perimeter defense and are part of a zero-trust framework. 

Why do organizations need adaptive security? 

As more remote and hybrid work arrangements become commonplace, businesses are allowing users to connect to their corporate network, apps, and data from unmanaged and BYOD devices—with good reason. Employees want the freedom to choose the devices they use each day for work and don’t want IT to manage them. From a security standpoint, this creates significant data security challenges. IT teams don’t have visibility into personal devices, making it hard to defend against common types of malware. 

These issues can lead to a potential security breach and put your data at risk. This means that you must be able to enforce strict policies in both managed and unmanaged environments. For example, suppose an attacker compromises a device containing your company’s sensitive data. In that case, you can protect against data theft by using adaptive security, which can scramble keystrokes and return screenshots as blank.

How does adaptive security differ from traditional security? 

Security experts have come up with many ways to help companies improve their ability to identify and thwart attacks on their networks.  

Companies had to own their desktop and notebook PCs to maintain control of their desktop and notebook PCs. In addition, the company held its servers, running them in its data center or a colocation facility. The information technology department is responsible for creating defenses around computers, applications, and networks. Those defensive walls and security patches included firewalls and antivirus updates installed on company-owned PCs. As new cyberattacks developed, cybersecurity experts ensured they had the proper defenses to protect their organizations against these new types of threats. 

While this was a reliable cybersecurity approach for many years, the fast-moving realities of modern digital business have rendered it too limited to be truly effective. If you’re going to compete with today’s advanced attacks, you need to evolve from legacy approaches. For example: 

• Zero-day threats cause problems for perimeter security: Advanced threats explicitly created to exploit unpatched software vulnerabilities are a hazardous type of exploit. These advanced attacks are specifically built to undermine strict security. 
• Modern networks need to incorporate more endpoints: Traveling and everyday remote employees connect to company resources from an endless variety of locations. Enforcing endpoint security, mainly when workers use BYOD technology, is too big a job for any legacy security system. 
• Legacy technology would compromise user efficiency: Today’s traditional security approach could prevent users from having easy and secure access to company resources, whether that means systems hosted on internal servers or cloud apps. Constant manual authentication can slow everyday workflows significantly. 

These shortcomings have driven businesses to choose adaptive security policies to handle advanced threats while keeping users productive. 

How is adaptive security used? 

Organizations adopting secure software development lifecycle (SDLC) practices embrace adaptive security architecture. As a result, these organizations need to adapt their SDLC to the needs of their customers, which requires adapting the tools used in the SDLC. 

Zero-trust networking is the fundamental concept behind these methods and technologies. It’s an approach that continuously verifies and blocks the unauthorized lateral movement of data or code throughout a corporate network. Zero trust is the security framework of choice for enterprises that require complete control over device usage across a broad range of devices and comprehensive data protection, and the assurance of compliance with government regulations like HIPAA, PCI, GLBA, etc. 

When an e-mail client has built-in support for a new standard, it is much easier to adopt than if it requires extensive work and change in all clients. To simplify this complex topic for you, we’ll cover a few of the critical points that will help you choose the right authentication solution for your organization and how to make sure you get the right one for your specific environment. 

This section will explain how you can secure your organization’s assets regarding adaptive access and authentication, whether hosted in your company’s servers or the cloud. These security solutions can detect suspicious network activity in real-time. Modern security solutions are distributed via the cloud and are designed to secure access through continuous monitoring and threat detection. When you use them, you get to focus on business-critical information instead of having to maintain legacy security. In addition, they are scalable because they place security controls close to the apps and end-users. 

Why is adaptive security important in today’s threat landscape? 

Criminals who want to hack a company’s network are typically opportunistic. They may be interested in what kind of business a targeted organization does or the industry its employees work in. Advanced security precautions are necessary if you want to prevent these hackers from causing damage and financial losses. Corporate data is precious today and can be used to make you money. A cybersecurity expert can lock it down so that thieves can’t steal it, and they can provide additional protection against ransomware attacks. Hackers are always looking for a way to break into networks. As each company grows, they add more users, applications, and endpoints. Hackers can use the newly available resources to break into their networks.

A cyberattack by ZTNA powered by adaptive security technologies is the appropriate response to this climate, where a cyberattack could come from any side. Hackers are constantly developing new ways to hack into computer systems and steal sensitive information. So, organizations must take steps to protect their data from hackers. Organizations using ZTNA to secure and manage apps can significantly reduce the attack surface. 

The human element is part of why we are being attacked in the first place. In perimeter-based security, there’s always a chance someone might bring a threat into the network through a spear-phishing attack. The ZTNA is always watching your actions, looking out for risks that may pose a danger to you while requiring only minimal interaction. 

What is the business value of adaptive security? 

Adaptive security systems offer much greater value because they are the most secure. Perhaps most importantly, this method allows companies to provide remote and hybrid work from any location and with any technology while still maintaining a safe environment. There are a few different types of return on investment for IT directors to point to when championing such a system. 

These include the following:  

• Savings from risk reduction

When a cyber-attack occurs, the cost associated with data breaches ranges from emergency system repairs to potential regulatory fines, coupled with the loss of revenue due to a damaged reputation. This is why it’s essential to have a security approach aligned to the modern, advanced threat landscape. 

• Support for modern employee workflows 

Some businesses choose to implement a VPN to protect the network and access data stored online. They might have to log in only to company-controlled endpoints or use several login credentials, or both. Adaptive security combined with single sign-on (SSO) protects without disrupting the user’s workflow. Workers have uninterrupted access to applications based on their roles and the security posture of their devices. 

• Reduced demands on internal IT 

Managing a legacy security system can be a tough assignment for the IT department. It’s always demanding your time and effort to follow a manual process because it’s never complete until it is. Security is a growing part of your team, which means more positions than ever need filling. An adaptive security approach that manages through a single cloud provider offers you a different experience. Security personnel can provide a central solution to multiple contacts for all of their needs, which frees personnel to focus on the actual job. You need to have a good security team to stay secure. 

Solutions for adaptive security 

In this digital world, where data breaches are common, companies must protect themselves from cyberattacks that hackers can launch. Organizations can now efficiently deliver adaptive security to employees without compromising employee productivity. You can add new applications easily through the API, and bringing in new users is not a problem, even if they’re logging on from remote locations using BYO devices. The ZTNA framework is a very flexible platform. It can adapt to different needs, while SSO and adaptive authentication are technologies that help make sure your users can carry. 

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