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Information Assurance and Security

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Information Assurance and Security

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matiostsinta

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Chapter One Information Assurance and

Security
1.0 Introduction
1.1 Enterprise Security
Enterprise Security Meaning

Enterprise security involves the various technologies, tactics, and processes used to
protect digital assets against unauthorized use, abuse, or infiltration by threat actors.

Enterprise security includes the protection of data as it flows across networks,

including those connecting satellite offices and those that tie data into the general
internet.

Enterprise security systems also cover the people and policies that organizations
use to secure their network infrastructure, including assets such as devices and
various endpoints.

Because enterprise security needs to focus on maintaining the security posture of a

company within the confines of the law, it also takes into consideration the legal
structures that apply to an organization’s data.

Enterprise security consists of the overall strategies and procedures used to defend
an organisation from bad actors. These bad actors could be external hackers or
internal employees and contractors.

Small and large businesses should incorporate enterprise-level security to define the
best practices and cybersecurity defences to protect them from a data breach and
stop attackers from exploiting unknown vulnerabilities.

Why Is Enterprise Security Important?

Enterprise security is important because the scope of the threat to enterprises is
both immense now and will continue to grow in the future.

Most organisations know that they need some level of cybersecurity to protect data
from attackers, but they don’t know how to plan and implement it.

All planning, deployment, maintenance, and improvement should be delegated to an

expert to avoid mistakes in the process. The sustainability and scalability of
enterprise security depend on expert-level planning and deployment.

Cyber-threats don’t always come from outside attackers. Insider threats are a real
issue for organisations as well. Although employees require trust, cybersecurity
strategies are based on not trusting users.

Aggregated permissions, unnecessary high-level permissions, and terminated users

Chapter One Information Assurance and
Security
with active accounts are issues that could lead to a data breach
from phishing or social engineering.

The overall importance of enterprise security is protecting data, data loss prevention,
and providing a good reputation for the organisation's brand. Compliance is also a
factor, depending on the organisation's industry.

1.2 Cyber defense

What is cyber defense?

Cyber defense is a computer network defense mechanism which includes response
to actions and critical infrastructure protection and information assurance for
organizations, government entities and other possible networks.

Cyber defense focuses on preventing, detecting and providing timely responses to

attacks or threats so that no infrastructure or information is tampered with.

With the growth in volume as well as complexity of cyber-attacks, cyber defense is

essential for most entities in order to protect sensitive information as well as to
safeguard assets.

Cybersecurity is a constant contest between attackers and defenders. Every

organization has vulnerabilities that an attacker can exploit to gain access and cause
damage.

Cyber attackers need to identify and take advantage of these security flaws, while
cyber defenders are tasked with closing them.

Of these, cyber defense is by far the more difficult task. A cyber attacker needs the
knowledge and skills required to identify and exploit a single vulnerability within an
organization’s defenses.

A cyber defender, on the other hand, needs to be able to find and close all of an
organization’s security holes in order to protect it effectively against cyber threats.

These two roles require many of the same skills. A necessary first step for each is
identifying potential vulnerabilities within an organization’s systems.

A cyber defender then needs to go another step further to identify how the
vulnerability can be remediated and to make that change to close the gap in an
organization’s defenses.

What Is the Difference Between Cyber Security and Cyber

Defense?
Cyber defense is the strategy used to protect networks or systems and the
Chapter One Information Assurance and
Security
information they contain. This is usually done with network detection and response,
firewalls, key management, and more.

The goal of cyber defense is to guard networks, identify potential problems and
report incidents inside the networks. Cyber security consists of the solutions that
help ward off threats.

Protecting networks from attackers is an ongoing contest. Every network has

vulnerabilities that could be exploited, and cyber security defense has to find and
close those security flaws before an attacker can take advantage.
Before we go too much further, let’s clarify some definitions for “Security” and
“Defense” so we can use that to drive the rest of this post. For fun, let’s also throw in
one more word: “Attack.”
 Security: The state of being free from danger or threat.
 Defense: The action of defending from or resisting attack.
 Attack: An aggressive and violent action against a person or place

When looking at the meanings of cyber security vs cyber defense, cyber security
speaks to solutions that make you free from danger or threat. Cyber defense speaks
to solutions that actively resist attack.

In other words, we can define the term ‘cyber defense’ as a proactive solution to
prevent, guard against, and respond to cyber threats and attacks. Cyber defense and
cyber security are both important for keeping an organization’s data safe.

No need to pit them against each other; cyber defense and cyber security should be
combined to provide overall cyber security defense.

1.2.1 Enterprise Security within an Enterprise Architecture

Context
Enterprise security architecture must ensure secure physical access while mitigating
the threat of social engineering and various malware attacks.

Any system that requires a password before granting entry also needs to be
protected, particularly because upon entry, a malicious actor could use their access
to escalate their privileges or navigate to other areas of the network to compromise
them.

This may necessitate multi-factor authentication (MFA) measures and limiting which
individuals have access rights to specific systems.

Firewalls are an integral part of any enterprise security solution. Because firewalls
can inspect traffic coming in and exiting the network, they do not only prevent
external attacks but also stop a threat actor from using the organization's network
as a launchpad for attacks on other networks.
Chapter One Information Assurance and
Security
Also, because a firewall can be configured in a number of ways, it can be placed
within the organization’s network to isolate threats that have been able to breach the
outer defenses.

Next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) can focus on existing threats and new, zero-day
attacks. By using artificial intelligence (AI) to isolate new attacks, an NGFW can
protect an organization from a wider range of cyber criminals.

It does this using deep packet inspection (DPI) that examines both the basic
information about where a data packet came from and what is inside.

In the event an attack breaches the outer edge of a network’s security, an

organization should include sandboxing technologies that can contain threats.

Within the sandboxed environment, IT admins can study the behaviour of a threat
and then use that information for future threat intelligence.

Best Practices for Enterprise Security

While there are many different approaches to securing an enterprise's digital assets,
there are a few best practices that every company should keep in mind.
This is particularly true when evaluating the merits of one solution compared to
another.
Chapter One Information Assurance and
Security
1. Guard data, both at rest and while in transit: If data can be encrypted, it is
important to take advantage of that. If possible, the encryption should be applied
across your entire network, particularly because it can be difficult to tell where a
malicious actor will try to eavesdrop on transmissions.
2. Set up stringent controls for identity and access management (IAM): You will
want to use the concept of least privilege when securing your network. With least
privilege, those that absolutely need to access a sector of the network or a
business-critical only application are allowed in.
3. Set up effective disaster recovery plans: Disaster recovery ensures that
necessary systems are backed up and running as quickly as possible. This may
necessitate redundant systems and components that can handle the workload
required to keep the business running.
4. Teach employees how to promote cybersecurity: Educating employees
regarding their responsibilities in connection with security can prevent many
common errors that result in serious breaches.
5. Manage endpoints and their access: Modern businesses may be forced to deal
with many endpoints and devices, either to serve their customers or employees.
It is important to make sure these are adequately secured and cannot be used to
attack the rest of the network.
6. Get the C-suite to buy in: To establish an adequately enforce security posture,
you need the most crucial decision-makers’ support. This may require multiple
meetings, presentations, and demonstrations, but once they see the benefits and
potential pitfalls, they will be more likely to endorse your efforts.

THE END!!!!