Data Breaches Cost Millions. How Can Companies Prevent Them?

The group behind the SolarWinds cyberattack identified in late 2020 is now targeting some 150 government agencies, think tanks, consultants, and non-governmental organizations, Microsoft recently discovered. The recent attacks on Colonial Pipeline and JBS, the world’s largest meat supplier, have served as a rude awakening that all organizations are vulnerable to cyberattack, no matter their size or industry.

Ransomware attacks—like the one that struck Steamship Authority, Massachusetts’ largest ferry service, last week—seem relentless. Hacking tools are increasingly accessible and cryptocurrency transactions are hard to trace, contributing to soaring rates of cybercrime around the globe. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that ransomware attacks cost organizations a combined $350 million in 2020. 

And while many organizations have begun to strengthen their security postures, they need to fast–track the adoption of next-generation cyberdefenses to protect against attacks like those on Colonial Pipeline and JBS. The good news is that companies are increasingly recognizing cybersecurity as an urgent business priority that demands the attention of company leadership. When attacks can debilitate a company’s brand reputation and bottom line, security is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a requirement. 

How Can Companies Prevent Data Breaches?

Although no platform or approach can guarantee breach protection 100% of the time, the Zero Trust approach to cybersecurity substantially improves an organization’s cyber-resilience: that is, how quickly and effectively you’re able to detect and respond to security incidents. 

Businesses need security that helps them confidently, knowledgeably enforce security rules in an increasingly complex digital world. The shift from the “trust but verify” to the “never trust, always verify” security model is a necessary ingredient in modern cybersecurity and cyber-resilience.  

A Zero Trust approach allows companies to accelerate digital transformation without compromising security posture. The underlying principle of Zero Trust is microsegmentation. Microsegmentation divides the network into isolated segments that can be monitored on a granular level. During a ransomware attack, bad actors penetrate the network and stay undetected for months—moving laterally and extracting data over time. Microsegmentation blocks lateral movement and creates secure zones that protect an enterprise’s most secure assets.

How Does a Zero Trust Security Model Help?

A Zero Trust security model enables companies to: 

1. Reduce the possibility of a data breach or ransomware attack through microsegmentation and preventive security at the workload level. 
2. Visualize and secure workloads in data centers and public clouds through dynamic, contextual, and application-centric microsegmentation. 
3. Protect special–purpose and legacy endpoints through microsegmentation and endpoint lockdown. 
4. Secure remote access to private applications and offer end–to–end access control through tight integration of remote access and microsegmentation. 
5. Simplify and automate compliance through microsegmentation, user access control, and granular reporting capabilities. 

The first step in achieving Zero Trust-enabled cyber-resilience is to find a security partner to simplify your security operations and integrate seamlessly with your existing security tools. A solution like ColorTokens’ Xtended ZeroTrust™ Platform fortifies your cloud or hybrid environment against sophisticated ransomware attacks, unauthorized lateral movement, and zero-day attacks. Intelligent, context-aware, and self-learning algorithms detect, contain, and prevent threats.

To learn more about ColorTokens’ approach to Zero Trust security, explore our resources or get in touch.