Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

Zero trust has become one of modern security’s most prominent strategies. Zero trust architecture is based on the fundamental idea that every network, user, and system must be verified consistently, instead of granting trust based on past access. Although zero trust is a commonly accepted practice today, it’s important to understand the pivotal role that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) plays in defining zero trust architecture and other cybersecurity frameworks.

Every day, threat actors devise new plans for breaking into secure systems. The steps they take, from researching a target to carrying out the attack, are known as the cyber kill chain. Traditionally, that kill chain has targeted devices and networks that lie completely within your organization’s control. For better or worse, mobile and cloud-based work have upended that dynamic.

Organizations that work in the cloud face an increasing number of potential threats every day. Fortunately, automated detection and response can block many of these lower-level threats before they even require human attention. Unfortunately, that means the threats that evade automated defenses may be perpetrated by driven and sophisticated attackers — the kinds of threat actors who can infiltrate a system and remain undetected for up to 280 days on average.

Every day, cybersecurity researchers discover dozens of new vulnerabilities, malware packages, and cyber criminals. One way for IT teams to stay on top of these threats is to monitor threat intelligence feeds. These databases provide real-time information on both established and emerging cyber threats, allowing organizations to catalog and analyze the results. This is particularly salient in the era of hybrid and remote work, as mobile devices are particularly tempting targets for cyber attacks.

Endpoint detection and response (EDR) has been a standard method for securing on-premises devices for years. When combined with antivirus software, it’s proven an effective way to uncover threats before they can cause severe damage. However, the growth of smartphones and other mobile devices means more and more work is getting done outside of the office. Organizations can no longer rely on traditional EDR protections as millions more endpoints are now exposed to the threat of a cyber attack.

Nine in ten Americans now own a smartphone, according to a 2024 Pew Research study. And these smartphones are increasingly being used for work. A general rise in remote work since the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in the usage of mobile devices and personal software for work purposes, as people report in from home, coffee shops, or anywhere. This increased mobility offers many benefits for workers.

In the past, an organization’s digital data was safe behind passwords, firewalls, and physical locked doors. Today, cloud computing and remote work have rendered these traditional approaches much less effective. Threat actors can launch attacks from almost any device, almost anywhere. Usernames and passwords are widely available on the dark web. To keep sensitive data safe, organizations must understand that any account — even one with the proper credentials — could be compromised.

Once upon a time, a username and a password were all you needed to get into most online accounts. It was convenient for users — but also convenient for hackers, who only had to acquire two static strings of characters to get unlimited access to a system until their victim (or their victim’s IT department) realized something was up.

If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that every organization — no matter how big or well-protected — is vulnerable to cyber attacks. From major corporations to government agencies, attackers have breached seemingly ironclad security systems. If your organization ever suffers a data breach, you’ll need a digital forensics and incident response (DFIR) plan. The time to craft one is now. DFIR combines two separate but related ideas.

Mobile devices, remote access, cloud-based applications — the security perimeter as we once knew it has disappeared. The proliferation of cloud-native infrastructure has given organizations and their employees more immediate access to their work than ever before. But this convenience cannot come at the cost of security, as malicious actors look for new ways to exploit an ever-increasing number of access points.