Defending against critical threats with Cisco Secure

As Australia reels from its biggest data hack in history, government, consumers, and business have clearly signalled that robust cybersecurity needs to be a top corporate priority. Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) spotlight the importance of awareness, education, and most importantly, action.

As Australia’s most trusted and value-added IT distributor, Dicker Data is trusted by more than 8,200 IT partners and their clients for more than 44 years, while representing world-class vendors to provide state-of-the-art, bespoke security solutions. In recognition of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, we hosted an array of educational events for our partners, including an informative webinar session with Director of Global Security for Cisco Australia and New Zealand , Corien Vermaak, helping our partners better understand cybercrime, the points of entry, and the preventative action we need to take.

Here are the key takeaways you need to know.

Australia is a prime target

Leading global experts have identified Australia, alone, as a disproportionate risk for phishing attacks through corporate email. Considering, on average, we spend approximately 30 percent of our workday, or 20 weeks a year, on email, this is a huge concern[1].

A common attack method is the kill chain. This involves four key stages:

1. Reconnaissance – This is often through an email spear phishing campaign. Cybercriminals gain access to email addresses and employee data to learn what content employees are likely to engage with and believe as credible. Once they identify one weak link, they can use this access to target more employees.
   
   
2. Weaponisation – The information gained in the reconnaissance stage is weaponised. For example, if cybercriminals know an upcoming invoice is due, they can send a note saying the creditor’s payment details have changed and provide new bank details.
   
   
3. Exploit – This can happen in a variety of ways, including monetary payments. Of greatest concern is malware that could infiltrate the network, embed itself, and install on assets. From here the malware can spread to various endpoints and take over like a digital pandemic. By spreading through input endpoints, it can ensure it goes under the radar of endpoint protection.
4. Recovery - Experts believe by the time you are exploited for ransom by an attacker, the damage is done and your data has already been sold. Should the damage extend to your backup system, it can cause significant system downtime and irreparable breach of trust. 
   
   

Building resilience

In today’s operating environment, building digital resilience is increasingly important, but we don’t always have the right tools in our toolkit.

Speaking at the cybersecurity webinar, Corien Vermaak said: “Digital resilience is especially important for small and medium businesses (SMEs). The latest research shows that many cyberattacks are low technology attacks. As larger enterprises buffer their cybersecurity and become more resilient, cybercriminals are reengineering to target organisations with less security in place. As my favourite saying goes, muggers don’t always look like falling pianos!

“It is important to have the right tools to build this resilience and layered protection. For SMEs an additional security layer than their neighbour could be make or break. Having the right partners, like Dicker Data and Cisco, who are committed to supporting, protecting, and future proofing your clients’ business can truly set you and your clients up for success.”

Consumer confidence in data security is at an all time low in Australia. Robust cybersecurity protocols are extremely important as it gives end customers the confidence that your client can keep their data secure and private. A breach of trust can be detrimental and we have seen firsthand the impact to reputation when things go wrong.

Contain and simplify

With so many tools, cybersecurity can be a complex exercise for clients. We need to improve visibility across the entire attack surface. By providing a single pane of glass solution, we are in a position to reduce the complexity and load.

Cisco Secure provides a comprehensive, streamlined, market-leading solution for robust cybersecurity. Cisco’s email security platform is the first layer of defence followed by multi-factor authentication (MFA) to ensure those accessing data really are who they say they are. Cisco’s MFA solution also acts as a firewall on endpoints, providing multi-layered protection. In Corien Vermaak’s expert opinion, nailing MFA is the single most important action a business can take in the fight against cybercrime.

Cisco’s key point of difference is its market-leading DNS capability, which is underpinned by an immense amount of research, investment, and product development. Cisco’s DNS tool leverages artificial intelligence and knowledge gained from network visibility to pre-empt and predict risks and threats.

Together, Cisco and Dicker Data are truly helping our partners and your clients defend against threats and safeguards the most vital assets of business with security resilience. Cisco Secure is designed with security front of mind and provides a streamlined solution to protect and defend at every stage and withstand unforeseen shocks. As your value-added distributor, Dicker Data has exclusive offers for our clients to take advantage and emerge stronger with Cisco Secure. To find out more and take action on cybersecurity today, reach out to Cisco.marketing@dickerdata.com.au. 

Hear more from Corien Vermaak as we discuss cyber security: 

[1] Adobe survey, 202