While the goal of cybersecurity is always to prevent threats from taking advantage of your infrastructure, this is becoming more and more challenging as time wears on and threats evolve to changes in cybersecurity discourse. A recent podcast episode from Illumio, “Trust & Resilience: The New Frontlines of Cybersecurity,” explores how trust has become a vulnerability that attackers exploit in new and creative ways. How can cybersecurity as an industry pivot in response to this trend?

Major Takeaways from Illumio’s Podcast

These days, cyberattacks rely less on intensive and complex technology and more on exploiting and subverting human psychology.

Why Cyberattacks Occur in the First Place

Former cybercriminal Brett Johnson details in the podcast episode that there are three core motivators for cyberattacks:

• Status: The attacker wants to stand out amongst their peers.
• Cash: The attack is carried out for some type of financial gain.
• Ideology: The attack is based on a specific belief or principle, as well as the desire to harm offenders.

With these motivations in mind, hackers will attack people directly, using trust against them.

What Experts Recommend

The key idea to take away from this podcast: prioritize resilience, which is the ability to withstand intrusions and bounce back swiftly should they occur.

Note how different this is compared to your typical prevention; the practice of resilience means adopting strategies that target and disrupt the business model of cybercrime. Businesses that make attacks costly and difficult for attackers to carry out will be much more successful in their mitigation efforts. Additionally, when a business can ensure rapid recovery from such an attack, the financial incentives for attackers evaporate, meaning that it’s no longer in their best interest to further carry out attacks.

All of this is to say that security is not a technical part of your business; rather, it’s a fundamental part of its business continuity infrastructure and strategic plan.

One key way to move in this direction is through the use of zero-trust principles, which all businesses should implement.

The podcast makes the case for security solutions that never assume trust and always verify the user’s identity. Even if a device is from inside the network, it’s crucial that any access to resources be authenticated and authorized, limiting access strictly for the assigned task. Through the use of segmentation, different parts of your network can be divided up into smaller, individualized zones for the purpose of damage control.

In short, zero-trust policies give your business a framework for it to operate in an environment where trust cannot be guaranteed, making it critical for today’s cybersecurity landscape. You should be prioritizing a multi-faceted approach to cybersecurity that focuses on resilience as a key factor, but you cannot forget about building a security-conscious culture within your organization as well.

Remember, your employees should know and understand the implications associated with cybersecurity and how it will impact their day-to-day responsibilities (and their life as a whole) should they encounter a threat.

Go Ahead and Give This Podcast a Listen

The episode and transcript are both available on Illumio’s website, and while we could talk about it for days, it’s really best to give it a listen yourself. Take note of any potential questions you have about your business infrastructure, then give us a call at (571) 470-5594 to discuss how you can improve your approach to cybersecurity.

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