Today's highly connected world has brought with it a slew of attack techniques, aimed at stealing a business's most valuable assets: its information.
Intrusion detection systems (IDS) are tools that monitor one or a network of machines for anomalies that might indicate malicious activity aimed at exfiltrating data, corrupting systems, or just wreaking havoc.
However, most techniques used in current IDS solutions are not equipped to handle the sophisticated and complex nature of today's advanced threats and targeted attacks.
This is where emerging machine learning technologies have begun to show promise, as they can be used to quickly highlight anomalies in environments, says Marc Silver, IT security manager at Discovery Holdings. Silver is a member of the advisory board for the ITWeb Security Summit 2017, to be held on 16 and 17 May 2017, Vodacom World, Midrand.
A scourge that is shaping the security industry is the surge in ransomware, particularly at scale, says Silver. The concept of ransomware is not new, but this menace has recently enjoyed a massive resurgence in popularity. This year has seen people subjected to extortion through ransomware on previously unimagined levels, he explains.
Cyber crooks and criminal organisations of all types have jumped on the ransomware bandwagon. Hackers target wide audiences with a 'mud-against-the-wall' approach, indiscriminately seeking easy victims. Slews of phishing e-mails, malicious ads that lead to infected Web sites, and malware embedded in applications are being employed to achieve their ends, he says.
According to Dino Covotsos, CEO of Telspace Systems, another member of the advisory board, incident response and prevention is also a trend shaping the local cyber security landscape. "Too many businesses do not have an idea of when their networks have been breached by an attacker. This is why it is important to understand where the gaps in an organisation's processes and procedures, infrastructure and network can be found. Actioning and remediating them will ensure a business is better placed to handle an event, should one occur."
He says incident-handling processes and procedures are too often an afterthought, and businesses don't know that they need them until a system falls foul of a breach. "Having incident response procedures in place can save a business from major financial and reputational damage, and can mean the difference between staying in business or closing the doors."
Covotsos also cites collaboration between corporates and government on information security matters, including attack and defence tactics and information sharing, as being an issue for SA businesses.
"To adequately address information security, both public and private sector organisations must take proactive measures to secure their systems, and collaboration is a major part of this. Security is about forming strategic alliances with those in the security community, and beyond. All stakeholders have a collective responsibility for the security of their networks, which is why co-operation between vendors, law enforcement, governments, businesses and citizens is a must."
These and other topics will be covered in-depth at the 2017 Security Summit, alongside international keynotes, thought-leadership, ground-breaking technologies, provocative case studies, new technologies, and breakout sessions ranging from business to technical.
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