Why Your Business Needs a Cyber Security Mesh to Keep Out Cyber Threats
Globally, 30,000 websites are hacked daily, 64% of companies worldwide have experienced at least one form of cyber attack, and by the end of 2021, hacking will cost organisations about $6 trillion.
As cyber threats grow, many businesses are clinging to the idea of a centralised business network that needs to be secured. But thanks to shifts like an increase in remote work, businesses have created distributed networks — without taking the requisite steps to protect them.
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Today’s distributed model, and modern tech architectures have pushed data processing to the edge, with many organisations relying on multiple cloud implementations and data centers to run their business.
This change has triggered the need for location-independent cyber security or cyber security mesh. For most businesses, a greater portion of their assets exist outside of the traditional security perimeter. Hence, they need to define security around those assets (whether people or devices).
The “walled city” approach to cyber security leaves organisations more vulnerable to current cyber threats. Accordingly, they need a “modular approach that centralises policy orchestration but distributes enforcement of cyber security policy” to all nodes to ensure secure identity and access management (IAM).
The Growing Importance of a Cyber Security Mesh
Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, Akif Khan, says, “IAM challenges have become increasingly complex and many organisations lack the skills and resources to manage effectively. Leaders must improve their approaches to identity proofing, develop stronger vendor management skills and mitigate the risks of an increasingly remote workforce.”
Gartner predicts that cyber security mesh can help businesses overcome the challenges of IAM and a remote work model, and will support more than 50% of IAM requests by 2025.
Cyber security mesh will enable a more explicit, mobile and adaptive unified access management model. This model is a more integrated, scalable, flexible and reliable approach to digital asset access control than the old perimeter-based security model.
As remote work gains strength, companies will need a more robust enrolment and recovery system as it’s getting increasingly difficult to differentiate between attackers and legitimate users.
Zero-Trust Strategy
In the zero-trust paradigm of cyber security, no device is trusted to access the broader network by default. The cyber security mesh is critical to a zero-trust network.
Close to 34% of data leaks originate from the inside of a company network, in which case perimeter-centric cyber security is rendered useless.
But a distributed cyber security mesh that is based on zero-trust adapts to emerging threats and changes access needs. This means threats can be detected in real-time and company assets like data and devices can be more secure than simply using VPN passwords.
A cyber security mesh ensures that all data, systems and devices are treated equally, regardless of where they are located (inside or outside the company network). Any connection to access data is considered unreliable until verified by the security protocol.
As secure as a cyber security mesh and zero-trust network are, they depend entirely on the people using them. It’s important for business leaders to become well-versed in mesh and other security options and build a culture of continuous learning and improvement to keep their cyber strategies up to the mark.
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