With recent changes happened in the business environment due to the coronavirus outbreak, cyberattack incidents have increased significantly. Also, as the usage of cloud-based technologies increased, the network systems of companies became more vulnerable to new threats. However, these are not the only reason for increased cyberattacks.
Globally, businesses are digitizing the confidential information they keep and out-sourcing is becoming a common trend. Because of all the reasons above and many more, companies need not only comprehensive security measures but also endurance and stability with the measures.
To this end, continuity plays an essential role. Because the technology world developing swiftly and malicious actors take advantage of them as they advance, continuity with the security measures is significant.
Constant network security monitoring is another essential practice for companies to safeguard their information systems. Today’s article’s topic is continuous security monitoring and why is it so important for modern companies. But first, let’s briefly explain continuous security monitoring.
What is Continuous Security Monitoring?
Continuous security monitoring is a practice that allows companies to track user activities, systems, networks, and other network components constantly. It can be summarized as the continuous monitoring of key organizational resources, such as the hardware linked to your network to identify and immediately neutralize any possible risks.
It is, in essence, a practice of concentrating on surveillance management rather than merely prevention measures. The process of routinely analyzing and assessing your operational security is automated by the Continuous Security Monitoring (CSM) practice. This method's goal is to allow companies to find vulnerabilities and mitigate them. Also, it allows companies to reduce the risks allocated to human errors.
In short, CSM provides companies with comprehensive information about the current state of their security and keeps them informed about possible risks and threats. Since cyberattacks and threats are also evolving and getting more sophisticated each day, by continually monitoring systems and their security, companies can reduce possible risks drastically. This continuous monitoring and evaluation approach may deliver significant benefits to companies such as enhanced visibility, better security, and increased efficiency.
Why Do Companies Need Continuous Security Monitoring?
First of all, even though cybersecurity companies and vendors constantly developing new and more effective security measures and solutions, cyberattacks and threats are also getting more sophisticated every day. This means one thing you didn’t consider a vulnerability yesterday may end up harming your systems and networks significantly.
Also, it allows companies to take full advantage of beneficial trends like outsourcing, remote working, and working with third parties. Even though all these trends may enhance the attack surface of a network, companies may reduce the possibility of related risks by utilizing the attack surface management features CMS brings. With that all said, let’s take a closer look at the major benefits CMS brings.
Enhanced Visibility
CMS tools are designed to constantly evaluate, analyze, and monitor all the pre-determined assets, hardware, systems, endpoints, and gateways. This provides companies with greater visibility over their systems and networks allowing them to take more appropriate actions. This constant evaluation process makes detecting vulnerabilities and possible risks easier while reducing the chance of human error.
Meeting Regulatory Compliance Requirements
All around the world, governments started to set regulatory compliance requirements of their own. These rules regulate how the data is accessed and by whom. These data protection laws mandate companies to set granular and comprehensive security policies.
Along with these broad information privacy requirements, authorities are becoming more and more insistent that security breaches be notified, which greatly enhances the social consequences of security occurrences. Thanks to CMS tools, companies can ensure they meet these requirements which help organizations to main their reputation and brand trust.
Attack Surface Management
No cybersecurity solution or practice can ensure perfect protection. Even though a company takes all the measures it can take, a breach or data leak may still happen.
However, the practices like continuous security monitoring can reduce the blast radius of cyberattacks drastically. The CSM tools, besides preventing most risks, can reduce the blast radius of cyberattacks and threats significantly.
This means, even if an attacker manages to access sensitive data or any part of the network, companies can respond to these attacks faster thanks to continuous security monitoring tools which can reduce their impact.
Faster Recovery from Cyberattacks
Continuous security monitoring is a particularly advantageous strategy for threat identification since it enables companies to rapidly address problems that could be used in a cyber assault. As a result, companies can recover from data breaches, data leaks, and cyberattacks faster.
Responding to vulnerabilities and damages faster reduces the impact of cyberattacks. Also, being aware of possible risks help companies to determine the actions that should be taken to reduce their impact when they occur.
Final Words
Establishing a secure business environment carries a lot of importance. It helps you to build a trusted brand and increases your reputation. So, raising awareness about possible cyber threats in a company is critical for businesses.
Unfortunately, implementing cybersecurity solutions alone may not be enough for some companies. That is why continuous monitoring and analysis of the current state of networks is of great importance.
Consistency with security measures is important due to the rapid development of technology and the hostile actors who use it. Another crucial procedure for businesses to protect their information systems is ongoing network security monitoring. By utilizing CMS tools, companies may have increased control, greater visibility, and better insight into their networks and systems.