Protecting critical data and networks with a modern, cloud-native and user aware approach

The World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report 2021 states cybersecurity continues to rank highly among global risks due to exposed cyber vulnerabilities and unpreparedness of COVID-19.Ongoing digital transformation and hybrid work models are the new reality, intensifying the need for superior privacy, security, and compliance solutions. According to AustCyber's Digital Census, Australian businesses spent approximately $5.6 billion on cybersecurity in 2020, with demands expected to reach $7.6 billion by 2024.

In the Forcepoint 2020 Future Insights report, Nico Popp, Chief Product Officer said, “The new status quo has moved to include remote working. Cloud deployment is a necessity. Cybersecurity is necessary to enable businesses to accelerate their move to the cloud and maximise speed, scalability, and resilience of digital transformation.”

Dicker Data has partnered with Forcepoint to offer partners access to their industry-leading portfolio of cloud-first and converged security, data protection, network security and insider threat solutions.

Pennie Stevens, General Manager - Software at Dicker Data, said, “Behind every cyberattack is a vulnerable person and company. As security threats and targeted attacks continue to grow, Dicker Data is extending our security portfolio to include Forcepoint’s modern cybersecurity and cloud-native portfolio to our partner network. Forcepoint’s intelligent technology will help empower partners to protect customers, their people, and modern data, industry-wide from anywhere.”

Solving pressing problems with evolution to an integrated platform 

Cybersecurity was built to defend event-centric responses using static policies, limited control of data movement and lack of visibility into risk posing activities. In today’s hyperconnected world, the surge of remote employees and cloud-based infrastructure, this defense method is redundant. Building towards a SASE – or Secure Access Service Edge – infrastructure can secure connectivity, allow for business taking place outside the traditional enterprise boundary, and accelerate digital transformation to the cloud.

IT professionals need to implement cybersecurity solutions which integrate tightly, crossing traditional product boundaries. In this way, we can effectively address modern threats and maximise protection of customers’ people, data, and intellectual property (IP), from anywhere.

Pennie Stevens said, "As digital transformation journeys become more complex, security risks increase. We’re seeing IT and security professionals face challenges because of traditional infrastructure-centric approaches, outdated security information and event management software (SIEMs), and tools that lack user context and require extreme management from on-premises to cloud.”

Dicker Data and Forcepoint are leading the way with modern converged cybersecurity solutions putting users and data at the center of design thinking. Security incidents start with people whether it be external attackers, accidental loss, or malicious insiders, they all comprise user access to expose critical data and IP.

With user-aware data protection and behavioural monitoring, IT professionals have visibility of emerging risks, empowering them to identify and address credible threats before they become breaches. This ensures IT leaders solve fundamental challenges, prevent breaches, cultivate a safe trusting environment, and maintain workflow productivity for customers.

Leveraging the cloud to access converged and modern solutions

The modern and digital workforce has resulted in rapid adoption of security solutions and IT infrastructure across multiple channels and devices. IDG’s 2020 report on Protecting the Human Side of Cybersecurity indicated 52 percent of IT leaders find managing the security of multiple apps deployed in the cloud a critical challenge.

Forcepoint’s Future Insights 2021 reinforced this, explaining that “Developers are using security as a tool, but having to shoehorn in applications and functions not necessarily designed as cloud-native. Security will move to the left for the developer and will become easily deployable and fully integrated.”

For instance, for organisations using Office 365, partners can work with Dicker Data to identify, manage, and upsell complimentary security solutions and software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps required to fill compliance gaps.

Seamlessly integrating multiple polices via Forcepoint technology, customers can address compliance regulations (like GDPR and CCPA), while giving partners instant visibility and control required to leverage the potential of user and data cloud applications implemented in the remote workforce.

The Future Insights 2021 report predicts with converged, digital, cloud delivered solutions implemented, the “Zoom of Security” will emerge in 2021 i.e., a security solution that “just works” and is easily accessible to end-users. Nico Popp added, “Security will become so ingrained in applications and platforms that people will no longer realise they are being ‘secured.’”

A closer look at the solutions 

Dicker Data’s partners can leverage Forcepoint’s converged solutions to reduce complexity and to keep modern enterprises protected, secure and productive in the cloud and on premises. While many partners focus on security at the infrastructure layer (firewalls, VPNs, SD WAN, proxies, EDR etc.) with Forcepoint they can extend their security capability and practice to take advantage of the growing Data Protection and User Protection markets.

Forcepoint’s award winning Dynamic Data Protection (DDP) solution delivers risk adaptive, unified and next-generation data loss protection using modern Zero Trust architecture. With individualised data policies, behavioural analytics, data discovery and classification and maximum security, DDP can reduce data policy violations by 60 percent.

Forcepoint’s Dynamic User Protection (DUP) is a cloud-based user activity monitoring solution that uses Indicators of Behavior (IOBs), a context-rich monitoring approach to analyse user activities and mitigate risk at the earliest point of detection from the device to the edge. Suitable for targeted attacks, DUP improves detection and prevention of high-risk and suspicious activity by 70 percent.

Dynamic Edge Protection (DEP), recognised as the industry’s first data-centric security-as-a-service means partners can offers a new, unified way to safeguard use of web, cloud and private apps against advanced threats. It offers cost-effective network protection, while combining true, enterprise-class data loss prevention with secure access and advanced threat protection.

With Zero Trust network Access, DEP offers 72 percent operational savings for remote office IT personnel and networking infrastructure.

With intelligent analytics, unified policies, and flexible enforcement at its core, human-centric data protection provides the end-to-end architecture needed to address modern and future security incidents.