2022-12-19 - 台灣二版有限公司

零信任：它是什麼以及如何實施

Zero Trust and Data Security in Companies

Due to the surge of ransomware attacks, the increased risks for data loss, and the continuous adverse effects cybercrime poses, many organizations have adopted the zero-trust principle to harden the security of their systems, thereby increasing their cyber resiliency.

Cyberattacks have become so ubiquitous that the Biden White House issued a statement urging American business leaders to strengthen their organization’s cybersecurity measures.

As it stands, GlobeNewswire reported that zero trust security is expected to reach a market value of $29 million USD by the end of 2022 and increase to US $118.7 billion by 2032. This significant growth in the coming decade comes from the value zero trust brings companies.

The simple fact is that business leaders are following its principles, like consistent monitoring and validation, because these principles help prevent data breaches and mitigate data loss.

This post will dive into what the zero principle is, as well as its capacity to tighten workplace data and security, effectively ushering in what Microsoft calls:

A new security model that more effectively adapts to the complexity of the modern environment, embraces the hybrid workplace, and protects people, devices, apps, and data wherever they’re located.

What are the cybercrime trends that zero trust can help curb?

One trend that’s risen in recent years is ransomware. Ransomware cripples businesses by locking their computer systems until a sum of money is paid. These attacks are expected to have a price tag of $265 billion USD annually by 2031, according to Cybersecurity Ventures.

With how easy it has become for ransomware gangs to deploy ransomware on a multinational scale, businesses need to deploy enhanced cybersecurity solutions to lessen system vulnerabilities, because “when it comes to ransomware attacks, it’s a matter of when, not if.” Read more from the Keepit blog article on how to prepare for ransomware.

It should come as no surprise that ransomware attacks can result in operational downtime. A Statista report stated that the average length of interruption after ransomware attacks is 20 days.

Even minor disruptions can decrease employee productivity, impede communications with clients—among other issues such as the significant fines Marriott faced—and impact business continuity. One might struggle to fully comprehend the serious implications that 20 days of downtime would have for businesses.

Zero trust, in a nutshell, is guided by the principle of ‘never trust, always verify.’

Why Zero Trust?

Zero trust, in a nutshell, is guided by the principle of “never trust, always verify.” It’s a modern security architecture which assumes that internal and external threats exist on the network at all times due to the pervasiveness of cybercrime. And as such, it requires all network users to undergo verification and validation processes before they can access the network resources.

Is zero trust really needed?

Generally, employees within a company access multiple networks simultaneously. There are many, many data exchanges between multiple user devices, across potentially numerous networks – of course, depending on the complexity of a company’s IT infrastructure.

This architecture boosts productivity through increased collaboration. However, this can come with a hidden risk when not following the zero-trust security model.

Zero trust use cases

What might that risk look like? Let’s suppose that one employee working on a single device is validated as “trusted.” But that device has become infected with malware by the user opening a dangerous email. (Learn how to identify a dangerous email.)

Since this user’s device was previously validated and is now assumed harmless, it still has access to all the users and networks as before being infected without having to provide or verify any credentials.

The result is unrestricted access to spread malware from this “trusted” device to other users within the network and to other devices within overlapping networks, allowing the malicious actor to expand their reach and damage, gaining access to more and more of a company’s business-critical data.

This example is the main reason zero trust architecture rejects assuming any device is safe. Rather, the system reduces risks through continuous authentication, thereby enhancing protection for your company’s network system by always verifying and authenticating. According to TechTarget:

This protects your organization in ways other models can’t. It stops malware from entering your network; gives remote workers more protection without affecting productivity; simplifies management of security operations centers with enhanced automation; and extends visibility into potential threats to improve proactive remediation and response.

TechTarget

How to Adopt Zero Trust

According to a Microsoft zero trust business plan, “digital transformation forces re-examination of traditional security models.” And as such, there are many companies offering guidance. Microsoft alone has helped aid zero trust deployments in thousands of organizations with insightful (and practical) guides on how to adopt a zero-trust business plan.

Global cybersecurity leader Palo Alto Networks shares that there are three crucial steps you need to follow to deploy zero trust architecture in your business:

Define your protected surface: Zero trust architecture can be costly and complicated. As such, identify your protected surface—including components like company applications and assets— rather than focusing on a large network area.
If your business utilizes Microsoft 365, then you’ll know that documents, email, SharePoint data, and Teams chat must be secured against cyberattacks. Attackers can breach an account with access to the data or hijack your system admin, making it imperative to find a SaaS data backup solution that can maintain multiple backup copies with the needed granularity of data and metadata.
Map your data flow: Plan your business’ flow of instructions and data as this will provide you with information on overlapping networks.
For instance, where and in which formats is the data stored? If your employees utilize digital, desktop, mobile, or cloud, identify them so you can see how data is moved and shared.
Design your architecture: Essentially, the network architecture should prevent unauthorized access to individuals who aren’t part of your company.
This is especially relevant if you want to encrypt data before it moves to cloud storage devices. If you want to back up your company’s Microsoft 365 data, for instance, we offer blockchain-based encryption technology that guarantees your backups will remain immutable to ransomware threats and data loss. At Keepit, we also offer comprehensive coverage for M365 applications such as SharePoint, OneDrive, Groups and Teams, and Exchange Online.

Of course, implementation isn’t as simple as one, two, three: It involves a massive undertaking and a focused effort to implement and maintain. There are many, many other variables and considerations.

For instance, you can also adopt multi-factor authentication (MFA) and ensure use of updated devices.

MFA is especially relevant for companies who have stored their digital information on cloud computing systems. With MFA, you can prevent unauthorized users from accessing your organization’s resources.
Similarly, encourage your workforce to update their devices with the latest firmware as this typically offers security patches for known vulnerabilities.

Continuously monitor your network and device attributes. Adopting zero trust architecture can prove futile if your workers do not audit and maintain a log for monitoring network traffic.

Do I still need to get backup for my SaaS data?

Ultimately, zero trust makes it much more difficult for external threats to gain access to an organization’s business-critical data – but not impossible. It also does not protect you against internal threats nor from human errors such as accidental overwrites and accidental deletions.

Data protection best practices tell us to always have a backup. That is a fundamental responsibility for you, the data creator and customer of a SaaS service like Microsoft 365, due to the well-documented yet often misunderstood shared responsibility model. Securing an independent backup is still the best way to ensure 24/7 availability to your data.

With the offerings from specialized third-party backup and data management providers, peace of mind can be had quickly and from a cost-effective service. This is why Keepit was created: Your data, here today, here tomorrow.

Want backup now?

Learn more about Keepit’s SaaS data backup service offerings here.

If you’d like to explore more about backing up a particular SaaS workload like Microsoft 365, find the relevant Keepit blog posts below, as Keepit offers a suite of cloud SaaS data protection services:

Read our blog about why you need to back up M365
If you’re using Salesforce, read that blog article here
Why back up Active Directory (Azure) here
And for Google Workspace
Finally, read why to back up Zendesk here

About Keepit
At Keepit, we believe in a digital future where all software is delivered as a service. Keepit’s mission is to protect data in the cloud Keepit is a software company specializing in Cloud-to-Cloud data backup and recovery. Deriving from +20 year experience in building best-in-class data protection and hosting services, Keepit is pioneering the way to secure and protect cloud data at scale.

About Version 2 Digital

Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.

Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.

2022 Keepit

制定勒索軟件事件響應計劃

Ransomware is considered one of the biggest threats to business in 2022. In this type of cyberattack, hackers block their victims’ computers and charge a ransom to unlock them.

You may be wondering: what are the basic steps of an Incident Response Plan for ransomware or what an Incident Response Plan should include? So we prepared this article.

Here are the aspects a proper response to a ransomware attack should include:

Risk Assessment
Identification of a Ransomware Attack
Defining the Scope of the Attack

Isolation of Affected Systems Elimination of Malicious Software Disclosure of the Attack Environment Recovery Incident Recovery Plan Application of Lessons Learned

Keep reading this article and learn all about it!

Basic Steps of an Incident Response Plan An Incident Response Plan involving ransomware shall cover the following steps:

Risk Assessment The first step for those who want to design an Incident Response Plan involving ransomware is to assess the risks and threats faced by the company. In this step, you should understand which types of ransomware your company is most vulnerable to and which assets and data would be most impacted. In addition, it is important to know how and to what extent your organization would be affected by a ransomware attack.

Identification of a Ransomware Attack When implementing an Incident Response Plan for ransomware, it is possible to identify an attack, taking into account there are many types of malware similar to ransomware, and the main signs of the latter are encryption and file blocking.

Defining the Scope of the Attack In an Incident Response Plan for ransomware, defining the scope of the attack is equivalent to measuring how much data and systems were affected by it. That is when you will know if the attack affected a single server, or if all your files kept in the data center or the cloud were impacted as well.

Isolation of Affected Systems The next step is to stop ransomware activities by isolating the affected systems in order to contain the attack and immediately putting the affected systems and networks offline. If this is not possible, disconnect the compromised devices or remove them from Wi-Fi to prevent ransomware infection from spreading.

Elimination of Malicious Software After containing the attack and isolating the affected systems, you must respond to the incident by eliminating malicious software and making sure the attack has been stopped. In the Incident Response Plan for ransomware, this is the time to assess the extent of the damage and check for backups to the locked files.

Disclosure of the Attack

Certain data protection laws and compliance regulations provide that attacks affecting sensitive data must be notified to authorities and persons who have had their information exposed.

So, if a ransomware attack has affected your customers’ data, be prepared to make the disclosure, according to the steps established by the regulatory bodies.

Environment Recovery

After removing the malicious software and disclosing the attack, the focus should be on restoring systems and data by using the backup to retrieve information and reinstalling the systems.

In this step, the security team must work in collaboration with the IT team, ensuring all security mechanisms are updated before reinstalling the impacted systems.

Incident Recovery Plan

If you are not prepared to restore systems and data after the attack, you will need to create an Incident Recovery Plan for ransomware.

This activity may be a bit time-consuming, but it is essential to avoid errors during recovery. In this step, you should also look for ways to recover files that were not saved in backups.

Application of Lessons Learned

Once you have recovered the data and restored your business operations, it is essential to check what has happened. Making a solid assessment of what motivated the ransomware attack will help your company not make the same mistakes and prepare employees to deal with future situations.

Relevant Statistics on Ransomware

Here are some relevant figures about ransomware attacks:
9% of Americans have been targeted by this type of attack;
Two-thirds of ransomware infections are caused by phishing emails;
Annually, ransomware attacks generate $1 billion for malicious attackers;
It is believed a ransomware attack will take place every 11 seconds by the end of 2022.
In 2020, schools and colleges were the main targets of ransomware attacks.

About senhasegura

We are senhasegura, a company widely recognized as a leader in cybersecurity. Our purpose is to provide sovereignty over sensitive data to the companies that hire us, using PAM to prevent data theft and leaks, as well as shutdowns in activities, which damage the results of corporations.

To achieve this goal, we track the lifecycle of privileged access management and use machine automation before, during, and after access.

Moreover, we automatically audit the use of privileges and privileged actions to prevent abuse, reducing cyber risks. We also bring organizations into compliance with audit criteria and standards such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, ISO 27001, and Sarbanes-Oxley.

Conclusion

In this article, you saw that:

Ransomware is a cyberattack in which hackers block their victims’ computers and charge a ransom to unlock them;
An Incident Response Plan involving ransomware must include the risk assessment, identification of the attack, definition of the scope of the attack, isolation of the affected systems, elimination of malicious software, disclosure of the attack, and recovery of the environment among its steps;
It is also critical to verify what happened after implementing the Incident Response Plan for ransomware; and
Alarming numbers reveal ransomware is one of the main cyber threats today.

Did you like our article? Then share it with someone who wants to learn more about Incident Response Plan for ransomware.

About Version 2 Digital

About Segura®
Segura® strive to ensure the sovereignty of companies over actions and privileged information. To this end, we work against data theft through traceability of administrator actions on networks, servers, databases and a multitude of devices. In addition, we pursue compliance with auditing requirements and the most demanding standards, including PCI DSS, Sarbanes-Oxley, ISO 27001 and HIPAA.

Segura 2022