In an Internet of Things (IOT) era, everything becomes possible, but without effective security measures in place, the IOT vision can't be delivered, says security specialist Blue Coat.
Justin Lee, South Africa country manager for Blue Coat, says increasing connectivity can mean increasing exposure to attack. "Take connected cars, for example. Imagine if an attack was launched against a car's on-board computer systems, causing the brakes to fail, and accidents occurred as a result. The resulting damage to the car manufacturer's reputation could be devastating. In addition, the market could lose faith in all connected devices."
As manufacturers of consumer goods rush to connect virtually all their products, and governments increasingly rely on connectedness to operate critical infrastructure, security becomes vitally important, says Lee. Hacktivists and cyber criminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and a connected world makes cyber war and attacks against critical infrastructure such as a power grid easier. "In effect, security enables the Internet of Everything," he says.
Lee says in this new threat environment, speed is key. "You need to spot the malicious code, spark an alert and take action very quickly," he advises. "In the past, it could have taken days, weeks or even months to detect and repair hacks. Now, threats must be visible and action must be taken in real-time."
Blue Coat's Advanced Threat Protection Lifecycle is designed to reduce time to detection and resolution from months eight months to two days. Its new approach to security integrates real-time protection, unprecedented visibility of the network, dynamic analysis, and automated post-breach containment, investigation and remediation. "This approach is important in addressing the key questions management will ask of IT in the event of a breach: What happened? Why did it happen? And will it happen again?" says Lee.
Lee, along with Blue Coat's local and international IT security experts, will address the upcoming Blue Coat Advanced Threat Protection seminars in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Delegates will discover the new threat landscape and global IT security trends, with demos and showcases of Blue Coat's analytics, content analysis and SSL technologies. Practical insights into Blue Coat's modular approach to enhanced IT security and roadmaps to advanced threat protection will also be highlighted.
Find out more information about this event, taking place in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
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