Staying well-informed of the latest technologies to defeat cyber criminals is a critical component of securing private data from unwanted intrusion. Criminals are always on the hunt for new ways to defeat defensive components of a technology infrastructure. When surrender isn’t an option, building an ever-stronger defense is the only way to mitigate the damage these thieves can cause. On July 21, I had the opportunity to attend the Denver Tech-Security Conference presented by Data Connectors to review some of the latest defenses presented by data security professionals.
My initial reaction to the event was encouraging. There were 44 security vendors in attendance, each with unique and varied ways of securing IT components from internal and external threats. Vendor booths were arranged in a typical fashion to other conference events, though some had more detailed display capabilities than others. Beyond the typical pens and sports bottles usually offered as a lure to draw in curious attendees, several vendors presented highly elaborate, real-time displays of their technological capabilities. I found myself gravitating toward those businesses that offered such displays and was thoroughly impressed by the advanced capabilities and transparent visibility of monitoring and defending data networks.
The conference was more than an opportunity to peruse the wares of IT businesses offering a wide spectrum of defensive technology platforms. It was also a chance to hear about the latest industry trends, new threats against IT networks, and advanced technologies to defeat or at least minimize the damage caused by cyber criminals. Data Connectors packed an impressive 12 presentations by IT security experts into the single-day event. Here are a few takeaways from the presenters you might find interesting.
According to Jill Brito of Vista Solutions, the average cost to a company after a data breach is $3.8 million. Small businesses comprise 71 percent of total breaches and at least 60 percent of companies that experience a data breach will go out of businesses within six months. Interestingly, Brito also stated that it takes 205 days to discover a breach. That’s a significant period for a criminal to potentially have access to a company’s data, and an excellent reason why you should change your passwords frequently, at least every three months.
Besides suggesting a superb steakhouse in Denver, email me if you’re curious about the location, Dyn Director of Sales Engineering Mikel Steadman discussed the frequency of domain name system (DNS) hijacks, where Internet traffic is rerouted to an alternative location. He stated that there are 3,000 access outages per day worldwide and that there were 500,000 domains across 1,500 networks serving 150 cities across the world that were impacted by routing hijacks in 2014. Steadman cited YouTube as an example when Pakistan inadvertently redirected all YouTube traffic to the country in 2008 to block its citizens from accessing the video website. While it was seemingly an accidental hijack, the potential damage a hijacked DNS can cause is very real.
Channel Sales Engineer JoJo Brotamonte of LogRhythm stated that it’s no longer a matter of “if” a company’s network will be attacked, but “when” it will be attacked. Brotamonte discussed the importance of reacting as quickly as possible when an intrusion is detected, and offered the website https://haveibeenpwned.com/ as a way for individuals to find out if their accounts have been compromised.
Stay tuned for part 2 of the Data Connectors Denver Tech-Security Conference review!
For more information on Data Connectors, go to http://dataconnectors.com