Cisco Catalysts

2020 has started. This is a time when pundits and writers assess what happened in the past year and look ahead. This blog will provide commentary and context on the big trends picked by top minds in cybersecurity threat intelligence . Inevitably, threats like phishing and ransomware will continue to keep CIOs up at night. What new events, tactics and concepts will shape cybersecurity in 2020? More importantly, how can companies safeguard their company against threats both old and new? Relying on trusted partners and solid tools can be the antidote. 1.    Cloud Vulnerabilities There is a misconception that storing data and handling processes in the Cloud guarantees security. In reality, misconfigured cloud instances resulted in more than half of data breaches in 2019. This trend will inevitably continue well into 2020. Amazon’s  configuration guide  for businesses to establish their own cloud environment is well over 100 pages, allowing for human error when implementi

End-user protection or endpoint security is a crucial aspect of cybersecurity. After all, it is often an individual (the end-user) who accidentally uploads malware or another form of the cyber threat to their desktop, laptop or mobile device. So, how do cyber-security measures protect end-users and systems? First, cyber-security relies on cryptographic protocols to encrypt emails, files, and other critical data. This not only protects information in transit but also guards against loss or theft. In addition, end-user security software scans computers for pieces of malicious code, quarantines this code, and then removes it from the machine. Security programs can even detect and remove  malicious code hidden in Master Boot Record  (MBR) and are designed to encrypt or wipe data from a computer’s hard drive. Electronic security protocols also focus on real-time  malware detection . Many use heuristic and behavioral analysis to monitor the behavior of a program and its code to defen