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December 2021

First things first in security

Paradyn COO – Paul Casey

Cyber crime as a service is the new reality, and businesses need to fight back with better defences. They can start by getting back to basics.

Remote working. Previously unknown exploits. Phishing. Smishing. Ransomware. Compliance. It’s a cliché to call the internet the Wild West, perhaps even an insult to the denizens of the old West, but the reality is that businesses today are under extreme pressure to ward off cyber attacks.

Businesses know this, but the question is: do they know how to respond to it?

“There is, I think, a recognition that the threat landscape has changed,” Paul Casey, chief operations officer at network IT and service management solutions company Paradyn, said. Legislation has had an impact, of course, notably the EU’s general data protection regulation (GDPR), which has lit a fire under companies that hold or process customers’ personal data.

“Following on from the likes of GDPR there is a lot more compliance among medium and small enterprises. Of course, large pharma, banking and governments were already used to a level of compliance,” he said.

Casey said that one of the important aspects of GDPR was that companies had to not only do the right thing, but demonstrate good faith. Insurers, too, want to see the right policies in place, otherwise they may adjust rates or even remove cover. “Even from an insurance perspective, businesses are looking to demonstrate that they’ve done the right thing,” he said.

Clearly, then, the pressure is on. There are methodologies out there, though, that can help, notably from the Centre for Internet Security (CIS) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), adherence to which can give businesses confidence that they are doing things right.

“Were doing a lot with CIS controls. There’s another one, NIST, and there’s also ISO 27001. They all work in similar ways: what they do is allow an organisation to examine and understand everything they do.” Casey said that adherence to these standards led to what he called ‘security hygiene’. “Cyber security hygiene is like personal hygiene: you will be more prone to infection if you are not looking after hygiene,” he said.

Despite the whirlwind of change, businesses have a responsibility to themselves and to their customers, one that is increasingly present in law. “The boundaries have all moved, but the fact is you still have to control things. You need to find out where you’re doing well and where you’re not and work from there,” he said. “That’s where the frameworks come in.”

The goal is a different way of thinking about security, one that means stepping back from saying ‘right, I need another box with lights on it’ and instead looking at the data, systems and network that run a business. ‘It’s really not about putting another box in,” he said.

In fact, businesses often trip up on basic measures including things such as patching and updates. The threat from this seemingly trivial fault is very real indeed and businesses may find they are entirely exposed as a result, especially as so-called ‘zero day’, or novel, exploits are on the rise. “The Chrome browser has had 12 zero day exploits this year alone,” said Casey.

In any case, businesses need to get the basics right before they can move on to more complex measures. As a result, auditing processes is at the top of Paradyn’s list of crucial steps to take in the fight to protect its clients from online criminals.

“If your processes aren’t right, if your users aren’t being trained, and your users on-boarded and off-boarded correctly, then there is a problem. These are things that organisations need to think about and it requires a formalised approach,” he said.

Casey said he is not arguing there is no requirement for new technology, however.

“There are next generation tools with the capability to mitigate against new threats, but if those tools are not implemented in the right way you’re not going to get maximum benefits or, if it’s particularly badly done, you’re leaving yourself open,” he said.

Paradyn also helps to produce reports for internal teams or for businesses own cyber security teams, helping to ease the burden on often already stretched IT staff. “Keeping on top of everything that is changing – the Windows 11 rollout, all of your ongoing projects – is a difficult job as it stands,” Casey said.

But keeping on top of things is essential. A recent report in trade newspaper Computing indicated that it is not only legitimate businesses that are leaning on service providers: strange as it sounds, hackers are now offering criminal gangs ‘exploit as a service’. As a result, the only possible response is to seek external help to fight off the growing threat.

“There’s a massive demand for security services,” Casey said. Little wonder.

Click here to discuss your cybersecurity requirements in more detail.

Paradyn and Cisco DUO deliver highest levels of protection

Paul Casey, chief operations officer and Cillian McCarthy, chief executive officer, Paradyn

Paul Casey, chief operations officer and Cillian McCarthy, chief executive officer, Paradyn

Best-in-class Multi-Factor Authentication protects businesses against 99 per cent of automated cyberattacks

A data breach will turn your entire organisation’s online life upside down. Even with reasonable password policies in place, people are still the weakest link in the security chain. Social engineering can convince even the most intelligent people to enter their credentials on a phishing site or give them up over the phone. The solution is Multi-factor Authentication (MFA). Paradyn has collaborated with Cisco to provide Cisco DUO, which verifies user identity and device health at every login attempt, providing trusted access to your applications and proactively reducing the risk of a data breach.

Here are four key ways in which Cisco DUO can keep your organisation secure:

Establish user trust: verify the identity of all users before granting access to corporate applications and resources
Gain visibility into devices: get detailed insight into every type of device accessing your applications, across every platform
Establish device trust: check the security posture and verify trust of all devices, corporate and personally owned, accessing your
applications
Enable secure access to all apps: give your users a secure and consistent login experience to on-premises and cloud applications

MFA will provide your business with over 99 per cent protection against automated cyber-attacks. Cisco DUO is not only an MFA authentication solution, but will begin your journey to a complete zero trust security model that starts with a secure workforce.

“Multi-factor authentication enables IT administrators to rest much easier, knowing that they have deployed a security strategy that protects the company’s platforms and users alike, thus reducing complexity while ensuring access and boosting the flexibility of remote workers”, Cillian McCarthy, chief executive of Paradyn, said.

Paradyn is a leading provider of IT security and consultancy services in Ireland, offering a comprehensive, best-in-class suite of security services to monitor, protect and defend customers against today’s cyber security threats. Through its partnership with Cisco DUO, it provides businesses with a secure remote working environment.

 

Click here to discuss in more detail.

Paradyn and Veeam keep National Concert Hall’s show on the road

National Concert Hall Dublin

Cybersecurity experts implement watertight system for the high-profile venue

Paradyn is one of Ireland’s leading cybersecurity service providers, with a security-first approach to implementation, monitoring and ongoing support. Its team of highly trained network and security consultants deliver best-in-class advice and support, enabling customers to reduce their cyber risk and focus on delivering their core business activities.

As the trusted technology partner of the National Concert Hall, Paradyn has delivered a secure Veeam data backup, storage, and
disaster recovery solution to protect the venue’s Microsoft365 data.

Robust backup and recovery solution

Having recently rolled out Microsoft365 (including Office365) to its entire IT user base, the National Concert Hall required robust backup and recovery for this new deployment. Paradyn designed and implemented a tailored Veeam 365 Backup solution which backs up data for Mail, SharePoint, and Exchange Online.

All National Concert Hall’s M365 data is securely hosted at Paradyn’s data centres through Veeam’s technology, meaning no downtime in the event of an incident, enabling speedy disaster recover and eliminating data loss. Furthermore, the venue has access to a self-service portal where it can carry out information recovery and restores, in cases of accidental or malicious
deletion.

“Having previously worked with Paradyn, we knew we could trust them to deliver on a resilient M365 backup solution”, said Philip Deacon, IT manager at the National Concert Hall. “Hosting a busy programme of events each year with multiple clients, we are confident that company and customer information is secure with backup and disaster recovery in one, so that our business can continue uninterrupted.”

“Veeam is like having an internal backup team and this solution enables us to provide proactive, real-time monitoring to the National Concert Hall,” said Cillian McCarthy, chief executive officer of Paradyn. “It’s not widely known that M365 doesn’t come with backup, which is why a solution such as this is essential for businesses. We have created a secure environment which
enables business continuity and protects against ransomware in a challenging IT landscape.”

Click here to discuss your backup and DR requirements in more detail.