Diana Kelley, Cybersecurity Field CTO at Microsoft, was recently at the Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit in Dubai, where a key question on many business leaders’ minds was how to tackle a threat landscape that’s constantly evolving
Imagine trying to compete in a general knowledge quiz with an opponent who has access to the internet while you don’t. It would almost be laughable trying to keep up with the speed at which they’re able to access the most accurate and up-to-date information. In much the same way businesses operating without the benefit of the cloud will find it tricky to keep pace with professional hackers who are using a more powerful technology than they are, to get more creative in their hacking attempts.
Cybercriminals are constantly adapting their attack methods in an attempt to stay one step ahead of their cybersecurity counterparts – as soon as they are blocked on one front, they are busy building an even stealthier approach.
In response, the cybersecurity market in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) is expected to grow to $12.54 billion by 2023. It’s clear, however, the days of yearly security box updates are far behind us, and today’s business and IT leaders must adopt an active security strategy that includes prevention, detection and swift response – something which the cloud is well positioned to provide.
Threat intelligence: Valuable insights around hacking attempts
The public cloud can unlock powerful capabilities to help businesses stay ahead of the changing threat landscape. There’s a lot of knowledge to be acquired from the internet around how hackers are updating their techniques.
Cloud providers have a large pool of clients, enabling them to tap into security intelligence across their entire ecosystem. Microsoft, for example, analyses 8 trillion signals each day for potential malicious activity in email, on desktops and laptops, and in the cloud applications that people log into for work and personal life. This data can then be used by big data security-intelligence systems to discover malware and network intrusion attempts around the globe. The more quickly these threats are identified, the greater the chance of stopping, and even predicting, malware before it infects the cloud provider’s client.
Rapid response: Addressing attacks quickly
The cloud not only provides more accurate information around the latest cyberattacks, but helps businesses respond to these attacks more quickly and effectively.
The growing sophistication of large-scale DDoS attacks often means perpetrators can overload network connections faster than mitigations can be put in place. Cloud providers, however, can leverage the scale and power of computing to stop these attacks.
By harnessing the power of automation found in tools like Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection, businesses can investigate alerts and address complex threats in minutes. The tool also draws on intelligent algorithms to determine whether a threat is active and what action needs to be taken.
Reducing regulatory complexity and risk
The scale and efficiency of the cloud is also helping companies stay on top of compliance reporting – a business requirement that will become increasingly important as countries in MEA place greater focus on data protection regulations.
Nations across the region are progressively turning their attention to policies that address data privacy at a national level. However, Microsoft research shows that, when asked about their data classification journey, more than a third of Chief Information Security Officers across the Middle East hadn’t yet started, nearly half were in the process of acquiring a solution, and only 20 percent actually had a solution in place.
Cloud technology can help businesses accelerate their compliance efforts by streamlining complex data classification processes. In fact, the new data classification tab of the compliance centre in Microsoft 365 allows businesses to view all of their sensitive data across Microsoft 365, categorised according to sensitive information types or associated with regulations. They also gain visibility into recommended policies to protect data and facilitate sensitivity labeling.
Many organisations have data that is unique to them. To help businesses classify these unique data sets, we’ve incorporated machine learning into information protection and governance in Microsoft 365. As such, businesses can now train our classification engine to intelligently classify information such as customer records, contracts, and the like.
It’s also more important than ever for businesses to work across their compliance and risk management teams to effectively assess and monitor risks. Using tools like Microsoft Compliance Score they can now continuously assess and monitor data protection controls and get clear guidance on how to improve their compliance score.
Businesses starting out on their cloud journeys sometimes have the misperception they might be trading convenience for security. They feel their data is less secure because it’s stored on servers somewhere beyond their direct control. But it’s clear that with the right cloud service provider, the opposite can be true.
Whether it’s a pure cloud or hybrid cloud solution, cloud security not only competes with on-premises security, but comes with a wealth of additional security benefits to help businesses keep their assets secure, while at the same time accelerating their digital transformation.
