Health check: Lessons from the recent Singapore data breach – part 2

In part one  of this blog I discussed the impact data breaches can have on businesses. Now I will address the ways businesses can tackle cyber-attacks proactively.

The problem many organisations face is that their security operations centres are facing an eye-watering increase in unprocessed information. Enterprises typically have 50-100 security-related event source types generating hundreds of thousands of events per second. Manually reviewing every event log isn’t possible, making it difficult for security analysts to see the forest from the trees.

Given the significant reputational and financial weight that comes with a data breach, organisations must find a way to effectively address cyber threats. One solution available to time and resource-strapped in-house security teams is a cloud-based Cloud Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platform. While not every organisation has the budget capacity to create and manage their own SIEM system, or the highly-skilled staff to manage it, there are managed SIEM solutions which are scalable for your business.

The main benefits of a SIEM system is that you get a holistic view of your IT security in one system, collecting and logging all security-related events for analysis from a variety of agents, including routers, firewalls, servers and data bases.

Another consideration for businesses is choosing a suite of security solutions that can meet evolving business models. Technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) are on the rise, producing vast amounts of data and presenting numerous new entry points for hackers looking to attack the network. To remain secure from these threats, businesses need to ensure they invest in a stronger multi-level cloud security management strategy, so that the entire network is secure at every entry point.

Security professionals are also adapting their tools to meet the analysis needs of IoT, which generates a huge volume of data. Many advanced security solutions now leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their solutions set, to speed up the accuracy and efficiency of their threat detection.

Like the PM, Mr. Lee said, “Cyber theft is a key risk when going digital. But we cannot stop the digital advance and must strive to build the most secure Smart Nation.” The best organisations can do, is be aware of the risks and work with security providers who can help predict, monitor and prevent cyber-attacks.

Clearly, attacks such as these have a hugely damaging effect on businesses. Organisations need to take stock of the cautionary tales and see investment in security as an investment in their future.

Read part one of this blog on how data breaches impact businesses here.