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2021 technology predictions to stay ahead this year

There is no doubt 2020 was a very challenging year with unprecedented disruptions across the world. Businesses have experienced many challenges; including a mass move to remote working, the economic downturn, and exponential increases in cyber-crimes and attacks. Due to the impact of the pandemic, many industries have been challenged throughout the last year and some are still operating in crisis mode today. That aside, budgets in 2021 are still under the microscope. “Forrester has predicted that 2021 will be the year of technology acceleration. Every company, not just the 15% of companies who are already digitally savvy, will have a focus on investing in technology experiences, operations and products this year.” said Jon Evans, CEO Enablis Pty Ltd. In this blog, “Enablis takes a look at what we believe are the key 2021 technology drivers and predictions from some of the world’s leading research and advisory firms.” added Jon Evans. Security is top of the list   In 2020 we saw a complete transformation in how organisations and people work, with unprecedented increases in cyber-crime, with ever increasing attacks on companies and remote workers. As business information no longer resides exclusively within the known perimeter, and as data and systems have moved to the cloud, legacy technologies no longer provide protection against modern threats. The growth in work and personal data means there will be an increased focus on cloud and mobile device security. Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) adoption will rise by more than 100% The move to remote working created an environment where SASE’s mix of security capabilities with a low barrier to entry, and the as-a-service model makes it the obvious choice for IT teams to protect the perimeter. According to research firm Dell’Oro Group, SASE growth will be driven due to the fundamental changes in the way companies do business. This includes the transition to remote work as a norm, and the increased use of software-as-a-service applications. Zero Trust adoption will continue to rise & 2021 will see Zero Trust Shape Cybersecurity Initiatives  According to Forester, Zero Trust adoption throughout Asia Pacific has lagged its global peers. As cloud adoption accelerated throughout 2020, and workforces moved to remote working models, it is now time to seriously adopt a Zero Trust cybersecurity framework in 2021. Cloud adoption will continue to increase. Many businesses will adopt a cloud-first mentality to build or upgrade IT infrastructure Forrester predicts that CIOs will continue to accelerate their spend on cloud, security, risk, networks, and mobility. Even firms who are struggling will be spending on the cloud as they look to gain an advantage during 2021. As we have seen public cloud adoption increase from the impacts of the pandemic, there is now more than ever an increased role for secure software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) . Investment in existing and new technology will rise During 2021 companies will invest in new technologies to continue to survive and stay ahead of their competition. Companies will also be looking to optimise the value of their existing technology – as many budgets are being closely managed due to the disruption and impact of the pandemic. IT executives will be looking to complement their existing IT stack with new technologies to support profitability, new products to market, and greater customer experiences. Emerging Technologies will be used to support business digitalisation Businesses will be evaluating emerging technologies and how they can be used to support growth due to the uncertainty that 2021 will bring. Many organisation's will focus on using emerging technologies to supplement existing cloud and mobile platforms within the business. Remote working is here to stay  Remote working will rise by 300% compared to pre -Covid. As stated in Foresters recent predictions, most companies will employ a hybrid work model. In 2021 we will see less staff working in the office and more full-time employees working from home and other remote locations. As organisations continue to develop their processes and knowledge for effective remote work practices, the uptake of remote working will have major implications for work-from-anywhere technology and culture. This move is predicted to trigger major changes in talent acquisition. If you would like to find out more about how to Protect your applications, data, devices and users anywhere click here.  If you would like to read Foresters complete guide to 2021’s critical business and technology trends go here.     

Are you getting SASE-savvy?

Are you getting SASE-savvy? Creating an effective cyber security framework in today’s complex digital world demands that organisations develop a proper understanding of Secure Access Service Edge, or SASE. The migration of users, services and resources converging at the edge demands new thinking and approaches around security and connectivity. Many organisations assume they have things in place, but in reality they don’t. One of the biggest misunderstandings relates to perceptions of where the company boundaries lie. Before the days of cloud and hyper-mobility, it was reasonable for security chiefs to conceive of a perimeter, but this is now well and truly in the past. But most antivirus technologies remain there, leaving the door half open for many businesses operating in today’s highly-distributed environment. There are three key business technology trends guiding cyber security today, according to recent research by Palo Alto Networks. The first is that the cloud has completely modernised productivity, with its elastic apps and services, 24/7 availability anywhere, and increased mobile devices productivity with SaaS aps. The second is that tech investments and deployment have totally shifted due to COVID-19. This has created new impetus for cloud migration, the creation of better digital customer experiences along with the drive to simplify and modernise IT landscapes. And the third is the fact – uncomfortable as it may be – that the ‘new normal’ is here to stay. Some two-thirds of organisations have indicated they plan to retain WFH policies. According to Palo Alto, today’s best cyber security offerings should have six key attributes: – Adaptability and scale for changing work dynamics – Modernize and simplify current tool set and estate – Increase long-term value of security investments – Gain complete visibility and control – eliminate “trust” – Align with and accelerate cloud initiatives – Automate as much of the estate as possible How to get SASE? As the edge becomes especially critical for collaboration, communications and productivity – especially during the pandemic – an inability to properly secure it will naturally reverse any gains, leading to competitive disadvantage. Organisations need to first shift to a modern, unified approach, that is less focused on ‘products’, and more on the user case. Awareness of SASE has certainly increased, however, there remains some confusion as to what it should actually look like. Many organisations may claim they have achieved it, yet a look under the hood reveals a different story. And of course it goes without saying the underlying ethos needs to be one of ‘zero trust’, as much as that’s possible. From an architecture standpoint, it’s important to utilise cloud-native platforms leveraging public cloud services. And there are three elements to this. –Auto-Scaling leverages hyperscale compute, customer instances individually scale up to meet demand and scale back when over –Isolation means each customer instance is essentially a VPC (virtual private cloud) of security including load balancing compute and remote network bandwidth – Service interruption is eliminated since each customer is isolated, no matter what other customers are doing, there is no interruption to your service Further, unified platforms increase long-term value, reducing the number of policies to administer, management effort and TCO and visibility gaps, all the while increasing scale and capacity planning. This produces a number of compelling security outcomes for organisations. Complete visibility at scale means less tendency to make compromises, which reduces risk. More use cases can be addressed via a single platform, leading to a significant simplification of network security. And consistent security with SLA-backed performance to cloud and SaaS leads to better user experiences. Another important consideration in deploying effective SASE frameworks is having a simple telecommunications environment, yet one that is highly flexible with a more holistic approach to connectivity. As a leading provider of business technology solutions, Enablis has a deep understanding of the importance of effective cyber security in today’s fast-evolving digital world. Connect with us today to learn more about how SASE can support your business – speak with a SASE security expertor visit our Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) resource centre here.

Email Security: Protect your brand from cyber-attacks

If your concerned about email security, brand exploitation, or site spoofing attack read on. DMARC stands for Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance, and is a protocol for authenticating that an email received from a specific domain is legitimately using that domain and is not fraudulent. The DMARC email security protocol provides insight into any unauthorised use of your business domain via email. DMARC enables a move to DMARC compliance and a DMARC reject policy faster with confidence to protect your domain against misuse and to prevent an email data breach within your business. Using Mimecast’s tool you can defend against spoofing with DMARC email security – as the DMARC email security protocol is now a critical weapon in the fight against email spoofing and impersonation. The DMARC email security protocol will provide you with insights into the unauthorised use of your domain, so you can protect your business domain and its role in helping to secure email from threats like spam, phishing, and email spoofing. Mimecast explains in a recent report that domain-spoofing and email-spoofing have evolved to become mainstream attack vectors, so the importance of a robust security protocol has never been greater. COVID-19 has resulted in increased business security attacks where the world has seen larger scale cyber threats and attacks. It is vital that organisations look beyond their email perimeters to understand and determine how cyber threat actors are mimicking and damaging their brands online. In the current challenging business environment brand trust is important to ensure success and business longevity. During the past year, many businesses have been exposed through attacks where their website has been cloned and the credentials stolen. This damaging attack affects an organisation’s brand identity, staff, customer, and partner trust and can also quickly affect the bottom line. Do you know domain attackers can trick unsuspecting website visitors, exploiting your business? Unless you have the right security measures in place you won’t even be aware that your website domain has been attacked and consequently your business and any website visitors are exposed to threats. Mimecast’s new 2020 email security report found that nearly half of organisations (49%) surveyed reported that companies would experience an increase in web or email spoofing and brand exploitation in the next 12 months. The report has some alarming findings where 84% of respondents were in fact concerned about a web domain, brand exploitation, or site spoofing attack. And the same 84% of people were concerned about an attack that would directly spoof their email domain. The concerns of the 2020 survey respondents are justified as there are many reported web and email spoofing attacks experienced by organisations especially now as teams are working remotely. The report found that of the organisations reviewed – they were made aware of 9 web or email spoofing attacks to their business in the last year. If your business does not have a system in place to actively monitor and manage web or email spoofing attacks, then the attack cannot be managed and will not be documented and counted. Enablis email security partner – Mimecast has a SaaS email security offering that allows organisations to easily roll out security defence company-wide without capital expense or long lead times. To find out more about protecting your brand and domain visit our email security site or click here to speak with one of the Enablis security team. To take the free DMARC Record Check Click here. If you would like to find out about the Zero Trust Framework click here.