Threat Predictions: Employee Systems
Smart organizations will spend their money not just on technology, but also on more training, awareness and personnel.
Getting into enterprises via employees outside of the protected network is nothing new. One of the first highly visible examples (Operation Aurora) took place in 2009. Since then many other incidents have breached corporate networks after compromising either a company laptop connected from a coffee shop or hotel, or a personal system at the employee's home.
Research indicates that the number of attacks continues to grow. This year, we should expect to see at least one, if not more, major attacks that start with an employee-owned system or a company system that is in an insecure location. Given that in 2015 the Stagefright Vulnerability highlighted some areas for potential exploitation, we should also expect Android devices to serve as a gateway into secure environments for malware or advanced persistent threats.
This threat should lead organizations to take a hard look at what it means to be secure. It isn't enough to worry about security only on your computer's network. Smart organizations need to expand their protection into the homes of their employees.
Currently, most organizations provide employees with VPN software to allow for secure connection to the enterprise network. That is a great way to ensure that the communication from the employee's work system to the office is secure. However, most people access the internet from multiple devices. Although a company laptop may be secure, who knows what protection employees use on their home systems? Most organizations deploy firewalls, web and email gateways, IPS and other technology to secure their infrastructures, yet more home users barely have anti-malware installed and typically have no firewall or gateway. These omissions leave employees wide open at home as targets of an attack directed at their employers.
In the next year or so, we expect to see organizations providing more advanced security technologies for employees to install on their personal systems - to help protect against threats entering through social networks and spear phishing.
Botswana does not currently have an official recognized national cybersecurity strategy, though agencies are in the process of developing a comprehensive roadmap. As a result of this, Botswana has been subject to various attacks including, the Locky and WCry ransomwares most recently. It is recommended that best practices and guidelines are immediately implemented internally within organizations.