Adaptive Security Architecture to Prevent Data Breaches

More than 39 million individuals have been impacted by healthcare data breaches reported in the first half of 2023 alone according to Health IT Security. The Office of Personnel Management also reported that sensitive information was stolen from over 21.5 million current, former, and prospective federal employees, and contractors.

With these extensive and catastrophic breaches constantly occurring, it is essential to maintain an open conversation about what measures can be taken to prevent data breaches and protect businesses. The question remains: where is security headed? An adaptive security architecture is a framework that gained visibility due to Gartner and today has merged into best practices. Here’s a snapshot of Gartner’s view on an adaptive security architecture:

With the Internet of Things, remote workforces and device mesh providing more opportunities for businesses to grow with end-user device technology, security needs to be able to adapt to the current IT environment. Using the best practices of Gartner’s adaptive security architecture, below are a few questions to see if your business is ready:

Do you proactively work on enhancing your security? 

Just like many other aspects of your business, security is an active and ever-changing entity. It needs constant attention and support, otherwise, you risk leaving your business vulnerable to attack. Conducting regular security assessments and staying aware of current threats are necessary provisions to prevent data breaches and ensure your security measures are fully protecting your business.

Another increasingly important security level to continually enhance is your staff. Hackers are utilizing techniques to exploit business through their employees, such as advanced spear-phishing schemes (emails from familiar contacts designed to gather sensitive information) and social engineering (well-disguised tactics designed to breach security protocols). By creating and implementing adaptive security architecture and security policies as well as conducting regular security training, you can stay ahead of potential threats targeted toward your employees.

Do you have systems in place to protect against attacks?

There are exercises and tools that your business can apply to protect your infrastructure and data from potential attacks. Ensuring all of your systems are conducting necessary updates guards against bugs that could open the door for hackers. Additionally, all elements of your infrastructure need to be protected, from your wireless network to employees who utilize BYOD policies. Tools such as network firewall systems, encryption software, and unified threat management platforms add necessary levels of protection for all aspects of your business. 

Are you prepared to detect incidents and threats?

With changing complex technical environments and the number of attacks conducted each day; it has become less of a matter of if you will get attacked and more about when. Daily security exploits have significantly evolved from Trojan Horses to Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) that stealthily and continually attack your systems while remaining undetected. Having the correct adaptive security architecture protocols in place for detecting incidents and threats can save your business from countless losses.

While anti-virus software is a necessity, it is not enough to protect your business from today’s hackers. Systems such as security information and event management (SIEM) software add advanced levels of logging and monitoring that your business needs to automatically detect and alert you to potential threats in your IT infrastructure.

Do you have processes in place for what to do after a threat is detected?

Detecting a threat is step one; however, what happens next is even more important. Are your security tools able to prevent data breaches and resolve the issue and if not, who is in charge of removing the threat? Having procedures in place to investigate the threat and work towards its resolution reduces the time your business remains vulnerable and may save your business from immeasurable damages. Once the threat is resolved, it is important to analyze why this incident occurred and how it can be prevented in the future.

Prevent Data Breaches with Dataprise Managed Detection and Response

If your business answers ‘no’ to any of these questions, your IT systems may be at a higher risk for breaches and successful attacks. Contact us today to protect your business and enhance your security architecture.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated in 2023.