In today's evolving cybersecurity landscape, it's important to ensure your business data is as safe as possible. Cybercrime has increased by 600% in the last two years, since the pandemic forced businesses to shift to more remote working. With such a high risk of a potential threat to your business, it's vital to make sure you're ready and prepared for the eventual attack.
While basic, generic software security solutions might seem like a budget friendly, convenient solution, the truth is it's not enough to protect your business. To keep your business data secure, you need to have the right type of security in place. Many organizations believe consumer grade security software is enough, similar to the sort used for home computers or individual business operators.
However, the type of security tools that might protect your home computer from viruses definitely won't be robust enough to keep your business network safe, as well as all the related devices and data that can be targeted by malicious actors. To attain high levels of protection, you need enterprise level security solutions.
What's the difference between basic and enterprise level cybersecurity?
The main difference between basic or consumer-level security tools and enterprise level cybersecurity is:
Why is generic cybersecurity software not enough?
The big issue facing organizations wanting to protect their infrastructure from cyber threats is the many vulnerabilities malicious actors can maximize. As technology continues to advance and businesses make a digital transformation, the need to increase network security in real-time also increases.
To understand why consumer-level security is inadequate for your business, you need to be aware cybersecurity hardware or software is simply one piece of the whole picture. Robust cybersecurity involves layers of security tools to protect the many areas of your IT environment that can be accessed. Cybercriminals use sophisticated methods to increase their attacks, and no single basic software tool can prevent every possible threat out there.
Reactive versus proactive
Generic security systems are reactive, meaning they will do a decent job of protecting against well-known viruses or malware, but are unable to do anything about new, emerging cyber threats. They're a one-brand solution, less frequently updated, so any new viruses or malware will be missed and do plenty of damage before found. This can cost a business in lost productivity, loss of trust from customers and stakeholders, legal fees, regulatory fines and lead to closing down the business altogether.
Enterprise-grade security works to proactively protect organizations by patrolling the entire perimeter of the system, monitoring for threats, malware, ransomware and data breaches. They involve multiple solutions to identify and mitigate threats, and are updated frequently, with different ways to monitor and prevent attacks.
Management and maintenance
The two different approaches to security also require different management and maintenance. As cyber threats are continuously evolving, so solutions should always be updated to reflect these changes.
Consumer-level security doesn't have cybersecurity professionals dedicated to protecting your business from current and new threats. If your organization has enterprise-level security, there is the option of having a security expert monitoring and evaluating the system and ensuring upgrades happen, acting on security logs and making changes as needed. This type of maintenance can identify malicious activity before it becomes a problem, whereas basic security solutions might only indicate a problem once there is a serious breach. It can be too late to protect systems, and even harder to prevent damage from spreading.
Functions
Consumer-level security is designed to be user-friendly, so the person installing the software doesn't need to have a certification in security to use it. But that is also a problem - with less functionality, there are fewer security features. Enterprise-level security offers multifactor authentication, endpoint protection and security testing for multiple levels of security.
More robust security solutions are comprehensive and sophisticated, with unique features that simplify management with a centralized system, while offering protection on multiple levels of security.
Compliance
Most industries today are required to comply with regulations and guidelines when it comes to information security, particularly sectors such as health, law, and finance. Many organizations are required to disclose the way they handle the security of servers, cloud-based data storage, processes, etc.
Generic consumer-grade cybersecurity software can't meet the level of compliance required for many industries. While inexpensive and convenient, this type of security software can't replicate the level of compliance that enterprise-grade security offers, with specialized, specific security measures and a highly trained security team to ensure compliance is met.
Consumer or basic level security systems won't do an optimal job of protecting your business from cyber threats or keeping your data safe, your systems running smoothly, and your employees focused on their jobs. An enterprise-level security system will do all of that and provide your business with the ability to continue to grow and succeed. Speak to the cybersecurity experts at BCS365 for tailored advice about how to keep your organization safe.