Organizations of all hues and shades nowadays invest a lot in cybersecurity and rightly so. The world is moving from just being digital to being hyperconnected and now an organization’s most confidential information could be on the cloud. Hence, organizations cannot be faulted for thinking at length about how they protect their employees and their assets from breaches from malicious hackers.
Yet at the same, some businesses start focusing so much on cybersecurity that often a sense of complacency creeps in. It is but human tendency to guard against an attack which never comes. The tendency is to underestimate it – think that “my organization will never be a target”. And in that process, lapses slip in. The defenses become brittle. The loopholes start creeping in.
Vulnerability assessment
That is exactly what the hacker wants. At the first sign of a vulnerability, they will strike and unleash mayhem. And that is why network administrators must also wake up to an uncomfortable but harsh reality – no cybersecurity system is 100% proof. The world of malicious attacks is rapidly evolving and there is no telling where the next big security hazard will come from.
So what is the solution? While it is imperative for all organizations to have a proper incident response plan, they must also be brave enough to take strong decisions like testing their own defenses through simulated cyber war games or even staging fake attacks.
Read more: Vulnerabilities are unavoidable: Here are the top 5 commandments of Vulnerability Scan
One way of doing this is by employing a process called Red Teaming where network and system vulnerabilities are tested through an attacker-lie approach. It falls under the assessment stage of the Information Security process. The effectiveness of an organization’s cybersecurity defenses and its resilience can be tested through a realistic attack simulation.
Attack simulation
These simulated attacks are conducted using highly advanced techniques to test systems for vulnerabilities and exploitable configuration errors. Unlike conventional attacks where a hacker only needs to find a single vulnerability, these Red Team attacks are comprehensive and can uncover all the issues in your cybersecurity defense, which can then be addressed immediately.
By simulating a false-flag attack, an organization can actually get a fresh perspective of their defenses. While those who work within the organization may have a more structured and defined idea about their security measures, a malicious hacker may approach the task with a completely different point of view. By conducting a Red Team attack, a fresh set of eyes can analyze an organization’s defenses and potentially flag vulnerabilities, which may have not been spotted earlier.
Filling in the gaps
Importantly, there is no better test for an organization’s incident response plan than a proper simulated attack. It is even better if only a small group of stakeholders are in the know about this simulation – that way a network administrators will get to see their incident response plan in practice. Does it work? Have all the possibilities of a breach been explored in the plan? How long does it take to get things back to normal? Do the backup plans work as extended ? While in theory, the answers to all these questions may be yes, it is only in the event of an actual attack that the actual answers are found.
Organizations can consider Seqrite Services for proactively protecting their IT assets and to respond against cybersecurity threats. Apart from cybersecurity, governance & risk assessments, Cyber Threat Intelligence, Cyber Incident Response, Seqrite Services also offers Red Team Audit which includes Readiness Assessments, Red Team Assessments and War Games.
As an IT security partner for your business, Seqrite provides comprehensive security from advanced cyber threats. To know more
