“Staying ahead of the threat curve is the key to preventing breaches,” said Frank J. Ohlhorst of Ziff Davis Enterprise. Frank recently wrote an article for SmarterTechnology.com entitled “Smarter Security Needed to Fend off Smarter Attacks,” where he talks about the exponentially increasing cyber attacks for personal information that have financial motives for cyber criminals.  He mentions how “old” firewalls can no longer protect against these targeted attacks and that the “next-generation” firewalls today are being designed more sophisticatedly with the ability to detect application-specific attacks and enforce application-specific granular security policy for both inbound and outbound traffic, rather than simply blocking ports. 

With next-generation firewalls, comes the next generation of added layers of protection as well.  A multi-layered approach to security protection puts your company ahead of the threat curve.  Simply having a one dimensional security structure is not enough in today’s era of rapidly increasing cyber attacks.  As with every structure, there is a foundation layer that supports all other aspects of the structure and without the foundation layer in place that would defeat the sole purpose of the structure.  

The foundation layer of security protection is removing administrator rights from users. When users are running without administrator rights, the security risks of malware and other intrusions from unapproved installations and downloads is widely reduced. After removing admin rights, IT needs a method to support end user needs.  This is accomplished by using a privilege management solution such as Viewfinity, which allows IT admins to manage policies and privileges at a granular level.   

Take the time to assess your company’s security situation and layer up on security protection; just don’t forget to build the foundation first.  With the right security protection in place and continuous security awareness training for your employees, you are already staying ahead of the threat curve.