Johannesburg, 14 Feb 2008
Organisations should rethink their security strategies and move towards a unified proactive approach to endpoint protection, says Patrick Evans, regional director for Africa at Symantec.
"Today, most company executives use more than one device to communicate and access business information. Computers, laptops and smartphones have increased the pace of business, creating a complex network more vulnerable to security threats associated with many and varied access endpoints."
According to Evans, cyber-crime is an actual profession and criminals are using business-like practices to successfully accomplish their criminal activities. "Cyber-crime has become a flourishing underground economy that steals billions of dollars annually, and criminals are becoming more professional in developing their attack and targeting methods."
Once the weak access points are detected, various methods are used to penetrate these company networks and access sensitive data such as citizen records, customer information, supplier details - all of which can contain credit card numbers and bank account numbers, he says.
Given the complexity and the reach of the corporate network, he says, the traditional approach to security - point solutions in the form of firewalls, anti-virus, anti-spyware, data leakage protection and Internet security - serves only to increase the complexity and the cost of securing the IT infrastructure.
"Companies are now taking a holistic approach to endpoint security that effectively protects their organisation from threats at all levels," he says. "Each endpoint needs to be protected from viruses and spam, from unauthorised users entering the network and from data that has not been checked as safe. Instead of deploying one product to tackle each of these problems - the traditional approach to security, a single product exists to achieve complete endpoint protection."
According to Evans, the cost of such protection comes down and managing a single endpoint is simplified. "The time spent on maintaining and monitoring endpoints is significantly reduced. System performance, compromised by diverse multi-vendor products, is improved with a single product."
The IT security landscape has changed dramatically, says Evans. "Financially motivated attacks that exploit vulnerabilities in endpoint devices on company networks are a reality today, and organisations are rethinking their traditional security strategies to remain protected."
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