CYBERSECURITY
Will 2022 see more sophisticated cyberattacks? Steve Flynn, Sales and Marketing Director, ESET Southern Africa
A fter two years of unrelenting, unexpected events, how will 2022 stack up against what is becoming a much more sophisticated approach to cybercrime? While there has been an unprecedented increase in the adoption of cloud technology, 2021 saw entire industries held back after major cyberattacks. By the end of an eventful year, many organisations entered the festive season with some form of threat from the Log4J vulnerability hanging
ESET LiveGuard is a feature that adds a layer of cloud- based protection specifically designed to mitigate threats that are new by intelligently moving them to a protected cloud-based sandbox, virtually eliminating any threat of malware or suspicious scripts unknowingly being opened. In the partner landscape, ESET provides efficient tools to enable its partners to equip their customers with the best solutions, support and cloud-based security products. System-driven efficiencies The pandemic continues to unsettle activities that partners and clients relied on previously: face to face meetings and engagements, training and other on-premises support. Support services and training – typically delivered in- person in the past – will continue to be facilitated online, as has become the norm, but systems at some organisations still need to be adapted to allow for this. The benefit of this shift to online-based interactions is that many organisations, including ESET, have found new ways of providing customer support, training and business development, forcing a critical review of many systems and processes. This will improve efficiency and efficacy in how ESET engages with its partners, clients and customers. Recently, IDC MarketScape acknowledged ESET for its continued reinvestment of its profits into software development, core threat research, and threat hunting. The acknowledgement recognises the cornerstone of ESET’s established position as Europe’s favourite cybersecurity brand – and it is fast becoming a significant player in South Africa, too. Looking ahead Organisations large and small saw – to some extent – the effects of not having adequate protection in place. Cyberthreats are sophisticated and cybercriminals will continue to hold businesses and individuals to ransom, acquire data, or steal funds. Cybercrime is increasing unabated. It is expected that sophisticated attacks are going to become more personalised, which will drive a greater need to protect vulnerable proprietary applications from attack. Organisations cannot operate today without some form of a protective solution in place, irrespective of where the infrastructure is located or what devices it is on.
Steve Flynn, Sales and Marketing Director, ESET Southern Africa.
over their heads too. Awareness is, in effect, a form of prevention and understanding the emerging trends which set the tone for the year ahead in cybersecurity can only help build appropriate defence mechanisms. As the world continues to move towards the increasingly common distributed workforce and the steady shift towards the cloud, ESET, a global leader in cybersecurity, says with increases in targeted ransomware attacks there has been a greater demand for reliable end-point security. Despite the concern that remote computing has caused, it does present an opportunity for many organisations to modernise their infrastructure and move more of the workloads into the cloud. The result, in many instances, is a more reliable, recoverable and scalable infrastructure, not only for its clients but for ESET too. The cloud is the limit Gradually, organisations are moving their infrastructure off- premises as they opt for more reliability and the scalability offered by cloud solutions that can adapt to the needs of the business. Employees are returning to work, but it seems likely that the new workplace will accommodate hybrid working patterns, necessitating particular security arrangements. A greater emphasis on protecting end-point devices is required as security to the edge is only reasonable in on- premises solutions. In 2022, every organisation will need to evaluate their return to work policies and ensure the security measures they have in place suit the needs of a hybrid workforce and the protection of their data. In many instances, existing security technologies are inapplicable. Cyberattacks on small businesses had a significant impact in 2021. Upwards of 60% said they could not recover financially from a severe cyber or ransomware attack. And the serious cyberattacks on the Department of Justice and South African parastatal, Transnet, showed that large organisations too, can suffer irreparable harm. Consequently, there will be increasing demand for high- quality, reputable security software for laptops, which are the backbone in many small and medium-sized businesses, and for end-user mobile devices.
For more information visit: www.eset.com/za
30 Electricity + Control MARCH 2022
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