Free Privileged Account Discovery Tool: Identify & secure credentials to stop lateral movement. Download Free

BeyondTrust
  • Products
    Privileged Password Management
    Discover, manage, audit, and monitor privileged accounts
    Password Safe DevOps Secrets Safe
    Endpoint Privilege Management
    Manage privileges on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Unix endpoints
    Windows and Mac Unix and Linux Active Directory Bridge
    Secure Remote Access
    Centrally manage and secure remote access for service desks and vendors
    Remote Support Privileged Remote Access
    BeyondInsight Analytics
    See All Solutions
  • Resources

    Universal Privilege Management

    Our innovative Universal Privilege Management approach secures every user, asset, and session across your entire enterprise.

    Watch Video

    Learn

    Case Studies
    Competitor Comparisons
    Datasheets
    Glossary
    Product Demos
    Whitepapers

    Attend

    Events
    Go Beyond
    Training
    Webinars

    Support

    Changelog
    Professional Services
    Technical Documentation
  • Blog
  • Partners
  • Contact
  • Support
  • Services
  • Training
  • Events
  • Company

The thinking problem

October 20, 2017

  • Blog
  • Archive

Over the past 30 years we’ve seen business technologies come and go in a rapidly evolving landscape of innovation and ingenuity. You could be forgiven for thinking that in the time we shrunk a computer down to the size of a wristwatch and established high speed connectivity to every corner of the globe that we would have also revolutionized information security.

Yet when I look around trade floors today I see vast swathes of vendors all proclaiming to have the answer, but what is the question and why are we still seeing breaches? Often the question they are answering is how do I detect more of the “unknown bad things” rather than how do I protect the data and the known good. The problem with the former is that the unknown is infinite and we are setting ourselves up for a fall at some point.

As an industry and possibly now a society we have a highly skewed perception on what makes us secure. If you ask someone on the street how they protect their computer they will inevitably say “have anti-virus”. Yet updating software, installing from trusted sources, not logging in with admin rights and backups go unmentioned. This phenomenon leads to detection fever, where we are constantly chasing the new next-gen solutions that will provide higher detection rates than the last.

Like a gambling addict many IT departments rely heavily on AV, chasing that big win they once had 10 years ago when AV saved them from a major incident. Over the years their expenditure has increased despite ever decreasing odds but they can’t seem to move on, constantly pushing money into newer next gen solutions that all promise better odds.

This arms race occurs across entire industries as companies increase budgets and match competitors spending on InfoSec in fear of being left behind. If you are breached, you want to be able to blame the state of the art multi million dollar kit that failed to detect the attack rather than the fact that software was unpatched and endpoints were vulnerable. Despite all this spending we still see breaches every day, in 2016 an attack doesn’t have to be advanced it just has to be unique.

"In 2016 an attack doesn’t have to be advanced it just has to be unique."

Whilst detection and next gen solutions absolutely have a place it’s time we realigned our security mindset to reality. Whilst securing endpoints and controlling access to data and privilege might not seem sexy and next gen, it is the fundamental layer of security that underpins everything else you do. Ultimately the attackers are targeting endpoints and if you haven’t done everything you can to reduce that attack surface than an attacker will be successful sooner rather than later.

There has been plenty of research that has shown how measures such as application allow-listing and least privilege are the top defenses against cyber threats. Yet when you survey IT departments they talk of network filters and detection as their top priority. If we look back at the problem we are trying to solve, is it better to try and detect if an infinite number of unknown applications launching on a system are malicious or simply focus on only allowing the ones we know are good to launch? Should we make sure the user only has access to the resources they need or try and monitor/screen their over privileged access? This is just good cyber hygiene, best practice and all too often the missing piece in security programs. We need to think like an attacker and focus on blocking and disrupting the attack chain not just detecting a specific attack.

James Maude

Stay Up To Date

Get the latest news, ideas, and tactics from BeyondTrust. You may unsubscribe at any time.

I agree to receive product related communications from BeyondTrust as detailed in the Privacy Policy, and I may manage my preferences or withdraw my consent at any time.

You May Also Be Interested In:

Webcasts | February 09, 2021

Customer Webinar: Remote Support 21.1 Released!

Webcasts | February 24, 2021

Your PAM 2021 Blueprint: Securing Privileged Accounts for On-Premises and Cloud Assets

Whitepapers

Evolving Privileged Identity Management (PIM) In The 'Next Normal'

BeyondTrust Logo
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Keep up with BeyondTrust

I agree to receive product related communications from BeyondTrust as detailed in the Privacy Policy, and I may manage my preferences or withdraw my consent at any time.

Customer Support
Contact Sales

Products

  • Endpoint Privilege Management
  • Password Management
  • Privileged Remote Access
  • DevOps Secrets Safe
  • Remote Support

Resources

  • Blog
  • Case Studies
  • Competitor Comparisons
  • Datasheets
  • Glossary
  • Videos
  • Webcasts
  • Whitepapers

About

  • Company
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Events
  • Leadership Team
  • Partner Program
  • Press

Languages

  • English
  • German
  • French
  • Spanish
  • Korean
  • Portuguese
  • Japanese
  • Privacy
  • Security
  • Manage Cookies
  • WEEE Compliance

Copyright © 1999 — 2020 BeyondTrust Corporation. All rights reserved. Other trademarks identified on this page are owned by their respective owners. BeyondTrust Corporation is not a chartered bank or trust company, or depository institution. It is not authorized to accept deposits or trust accounts and is not licensed or regulated by any state or federal banking authority.