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RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

authentication, segmenting your network duction of the General Data Protection Regulation
environment, and enforcing ‘least privilege’ and (GDPR) which came into effect in Europe in May
segregation of duties. Other recommendations 2018. This caused a stir globally regarding data
include implementing network activity monitoring protection principles and personal privacy rights.
and data loss prevention, as well as educating your Subsequently, a number of other countries have
employees to be vigilant about phishing attacks. implemented new data protection regulations or
are ‘beefing up’ their existing compliance
• Web-based attacks aren’t new and have been frameworks and regimes. Data protection
frequently o-rved for some years. Dimension Data, principles and personal privacy rights should put
however, has seen an alarming increase in recent cybersecurity firmly on the boardroom agenda.
cyberattacks in this area. In fact, they doubled year- Dimension Data recommends ensuring that
on-year, accounting for 32% of all attacks detected executives understand how cybersecurity and data
during 2018, representing the top type of hostile protection can deliver (or, if ignored, can potentially
activity. Web-based attacks target web-application erode) tangible business value. This will gain their
and application-specific vulnerabilities in attention and help secure the appropriate
technologies frequently used by many businesses. investment and drive a top-down focus on
Any organization that has a web presence is changing the behaviors and culture throughout the
exposed to these attacks: the larger their web organization regarding these issues.
presence, the greater the attack surface.
Compounding the challenge is that today, more While the threat landscape will continue to evolve, and
companies’ applications are being housed in the the emergence of new, more sophisticated
cloud which exposes the organization to new attack vulnerabilities and attack vectors is inevitable, we
types. Dimension Data’s advice to help protect should constantly prepare for fighting cybercrime.
yourself from web-based attacks includes prioritizing Keeping an eye on and investing in cybersecurity
patching, segmenting your network environment, innovations will ensure that you remain agile and that
and enforcing secure coding practices. Also your business is geared to adapt to the ever-evolving
consider deploying application-aware firewalls and threat landscape. But bear in mind that you’ll need to
performing regular vulnerability scanning. adapt and change your mindset as well: security must
be embedded into the business’ strategy upfront, not as
• Regulatory compliance is a well-known IT risk an afterthought. (Source: Dimension Data) ◊
management challenge faced by many
organizations. Last year, data protection and privacy By MediaBUZZ
dominated media headlines, spurred by the intro-

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