Cybersecurity: Protecting the perimeter is no longer enough

Remote work will catalyse a shift from the corporate perimeter concept to micro-office security certification. Outsourcing of IT and cybersecurity functions will be crucial to solve expertise shortages and save budgets. To coordinate managed service providers along with using multiple cloud services, cloud security and management skills will become a ‘must have’. These and other cybersecurity challenges and trends will be among those that businesses will have to manage this year, according to a new Kaspersky report.

The recent Kaspersky report, “Plugging the gaps: 2021 corporate IT security predictions” suggests advice for each role related to cybersecurity, including CEOs or business owners, CISOs, SOC team leads and IT managers. Here are some of the main trends:

Protecting the perimeter is no longer enough: Home office assessment and certification will be needed. There should be tools to scan the level of security in a workplace— from the presence of software vulnerabilities to connecting to an unreliable or unprotected Wi-Fi hotspot. It will also require wider adoption of VPN, privileged access management, multifactor authentication systems, stricter monitoring and updating of existing contingency plans.

Transition to a service model will enable required levels of IT and IT security with lower investments. According to Kaspersky’s survey, seven-in-10 (79%) businesses in the APAC region already plan to use a managed service provider (MSP) or managed security service provider (MSSP) in the next 12 months.

Training for internal IT security specialists should incorporate management skills. Cybersecurity professions split into very narrow specialisations, meaning that hiring staff for each specific role may be too expensive. This is where outsourcing can help plug the gap. However, businesses still need to focus on developing management skills for in-house teams to handle outsourced functions.

There will be an increased reliance on cloud services, making dedicated management and protection measures necessary. The survey showed that in 2020, employees in 95% of enterprises and 94% of SMBs used non-corporate software and cloud services such as social networks, messengers or other applications.

“We have seen two important changes in what customers expect from corporate cybersecurity offerings. Firstly, the quality of protection is no longer up for discussion – now it’s a ‘must have’. Another major trend is that deep integration between various components of corporate security, ideally from a single vendor, now plays a bigger role. Now, organisations are looking for a more unified approach with maximum integration between different security technologies,” says Alexander Moiseev, chief business officer at Kaspersky.