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Zero Trust, Cloud and Remote Working Drive Digital Resiliency

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Written by Paul Nicholson, Sr. Director of Product Marketing at A10 Networks

Today’s enterprises have faced many challenges with the pace of change over the last few years because of digital transformation, and the need for that transformation to be resilient and secure. These challenges have been amplified by the disruption of the global pandemic. There have been massive global macro-economic shifts that have fundamentally changed the way companies operate, from the rise of remotely working employees to the adjustments of customer engagement strategies.

Remote work was in full swing before the pandemic and it already had an impact on IT strategy and the shift to cloud, including hybrid cloud. This trend has only accelerated due to the ease of remote deployment and accessibility of software, SaaS, and cloud options. With all these changes, the specter of security breaches is high. This explains the rise and popularity of Zero Trust as a framework for securing networks in these new realities, and as an effective tool to drive cybersecurity initiatives within the entire enterprise.

All this means that in a post-pandemic era, digital resilience is a top priority and cyber threats are only accelerating. As a result, we are witnessing a broad spectrum of concerns as enterprise organizations look to shore up their defenses. Analyzing the events of the last two years, it is an ideal time to explore enterprise perceptions about the future. To gain these insights, we surveyed 2,425 senior application and network professionals from ten regions around the globe. Not surprisingly, we found high levels of concern around all aspects of digital transformation solutions and resilience with a strong focus on business continuity. The top findings we uncovered included:

Private Clouds are the Preferred Enterprise IT Environment
|Even though we witnessed a rapid pivot to cloud in the last couple of years, plenty of on-premises environments remain. Twenty-three percent of respondents have retained an on-premises environment and this is unlikely to change in the future. Private clouds were the preferred environment for 30 percent of respondents, while just under one quarter said their environment was in a public cloud with a similar percentage in SaaS environments.

New Working Patterns and Digitalization Prompt Rethinking the Strategy
Resilience is a board-level discussion as senior leaders look to ensure that the business can cope with any future disruption. Our enterprise respondents said that digital transformation solutions, business continuity (technically and organizationally), and stronger security requirements have all become paramount. This puts tremendous pressure on IT professionals to rethink their architectures and IT strategies to meet the challenge.

Asked to rate their concern about 11 different aspects of business resilience, nine out of 10 respondents expressed some level of concern about every issue. The top concerns were around the challenge of optimizing security tools to ensure competitive advantage, utilizing IT resources in the cloud, and enabling remote access and hybrid working while ensuring that staff feels supported in whatever work style they wish to adopt.

Top Cyber Threat Concerns for Enterprise IT
Without a doubt, the escalating threat landscape is causing a broad array of concerns from respondents. Chief among them is the loss of sensitive assets and data followed by the disruptive impact of downtime or network lockdown. In response, there was an evident shift to a Zero Trust security approach. One-third (30%) of enterprise organizations said that they had already adopted a Zero Trust model.

Looking to the future, we expect the adoption of cybersecurity initiatives to not only remain high but to become higher. This includes a more pervasive adoption of the Zero Trust model within the enterprise as all employees become more aware of the benefits of such a strategy and approach.

It’s clear that there is unlikely to be any relief from the pressures for enterprises and their IT practitioners, whether in infrastructure or security domains. We will be dealing with the impact of these recent pandemic-related changes for years to come, including the continuing integration of newer technologies and evolving standards. Therefore, IT organizations must continue to invest in modern technologies that support ongoing digital transformation initiatives but strike the balance between strong Zero Trust defense and operational agility for their multifaceted digital resiliency needs.

Expert Speak

The Power of Public-Private Partnerships

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Written by Jim Richberg, Head of Cyber Policy and Global Field CISO, Fortinet (more…)

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Expert Speak

5 Key Steps to Increase Application Performance for Employees and Customers

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Written by Amr Alashaal, Regional Vice President – Middle East at A10 Networks (more…)

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Expert Speak

Scammers Target People Who are Newly Single, Wealthy, or Inexperienced With Using Online Platforms

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Written by Doros Hadjizenonos, Regional Director at leading cybersecurity specialists Fortinet

With hundreds of millions of people using online dating platforms and nearly five billion using social media, the online space offers a rich hunting ground for scammers. Researchers at Georgia State University found scammers often target people who are newly single, wealthy, or inexperienced with using online platforms. However, people of all ages and from all walks of life have fallen victim.

Doros Hadjizenonos, Regional Director at leading cybersecurity specialists Fortinet, says fraudsters target users of social media and online dating apps in growing numbers. “So-called romance scammers typically create fake profiles to interact with users, build a relationship, and ultimately manipulate them to extract money,” he says. This may result in both financial losses and emotional trauma.

In the US alone, around 24,000 people collectively lost nearly $1 billion to romance scammers in 2021, according to the FBI. In the UK, the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) received 8,036 reports of romance fraud in the past year, with total losses amounting to over £92 million. In South Africa, there is an increase in reported romance scams, leading to some victims losing millions, their life savings, or their pensions.

Hadjizenonos notes that technology is helping romance scammers become even more sophisticated. “Deepfake photos, voice calls and videos, and letters or poems written by GenAI like ChatGPT, can be very convincing,” he says.

He believes AI could be used by social media platforms and dating sites to help reduce the risk to their users. “AI-enabled analytics can be used to pick up patterns in chats and raise alerts – without compromising individual users’ privacy,” he says. These tools could spot warning signs like persistent requests for personal details or money. “Platforms could also use biometric data to verify users against government identity systems.”

The most important measure to protect users against romance scams is awareness, he says. “People need to be very cautious online. They should think twice about sharing personal information, sending people money or private photos, or entertaining offers related to get-rich-quick schemes. They should also make use of the platform’s privacy settings and research their love interest’s social media footprint – if there’s no history and just one photo, this should be a red flag,” he says. “Scammers often steal other people’s profile pictures, so a reverse image search may indicate whether the new contract is who they say they are.”

Fortinet has highlighted several warning signs that individuals should be mindful of when engaging with a potential romantic partner online. These include:

  • Love bombing: Rapid declarations of love, discussions of marriage, and excessive flattery.
  • Distance: Persistent excuses for being unable to meet in person, such as remote work locations, living in another country, military postings, or frequent travel, along with a reluctance to engage in phone or video calls.
  • Requests for money: Initial small requests that gradually escalate to larger sums.
  • Unsolicited investment advice: Claims of being a skilled investor and promises to help make easy money.
  • Drama: Seeking urgent financial assistance under the pretence of a medical emergency, accident, arrest, or other unforeseen events, often accompanied by a plausible explanation for their inability to access their funds.
  • Requests for explicit photos: Seeking private photos that could be exploited for extortion.
  • Inconsistencies in communication style: Multiple scammers taking turns to manipulate the victim.

Being aware of these red flags can help individuals protect themselves from potential romance scams and online exploitation. “Remain open to the magic of finding love this Valentine’s Day, but remember to tread carefully and stay vigilant. It’s crucial not to let romance cloud your judgment,” Hadjizenonos concludes.

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