Security Considerations for a Hybrid Working Environment

Over the past 20 months, we’ve seen significant changes in the cyber security threat landscape that are having a major impact on organisations of every size in every sector. The frequency and sophistication of cyber events have increased significantly. Unfortunately, this has security implications, which need to be closely managed to mitigate the risks across the organisation.

Microsoft recently released the Digital Defense report, which is filled with great global insights into what’s happening in the world of security, including The State of Cybercrime, Nation State Threats, Supply Chain, IOT and OT Security.  There is a whole section on Hybrid Working, which is a dilemma many of our customers and partners are working through at the moment. Additionally, actionable insights provide relevant guidance for organisations faced with cyber threats.

Irish Insights from Microsoft’s Digital Defense Report

One of the more startling statistics from that report was that Ireland is number one in the world when it comes to ransomware encounters. From an Irish perspective, the report shows that 58% of all cyber-attacks in the last twelve months have been perpetrated by Nation States. There is often the assumption here that Ireland is excluded from these types of attacks. The report also shows that Manufacturing and FSI are the two most targeted industries, both of which have considerable footprints here.

With this hybrid working environment and Ireland being at the centre of these attacks, we thought it would be a good opportunity to catch up with our friends from CWSI, one of Ireland’s most experienced modern workplace security and compliance specialists, about what’s happening with customers and the challenges that every organisation is facing today.

The following videos will delve into the following security topics:

Re-imagining security: explores how has hybrid working changed the management of risks for organisations, and if regular security controls are still relevant.

Best Practices: discusses the challenges in terms of security that remote working brings and how to verify trust in this new model.

Strengthen Continuous improvements: looks into how organisations can get the security baseline right, and how working with managed services or trusted partners can help.

Microsoft made two major announcements at our recent annual IGNITE event, aimed at helping address these challenges.

Building defences for Small businesses and Hybrid Worker – Microsoft Defender for Business

Specifically built to bring the power of enterprise-grade endpoint security to small and medium businesses with up to 300 employees, Microsoft Defender for Business empowers SMEs to elevate their security by moving from traditional antivirus to next-generation protection, endpoint detection and response, and threat and vulnerability management, whilst taking advantage of simplified setup and management. Defender for Business will be available both as a standalone solution and as integrated protection included within Microsoft 365 Business Premium. Learn more about Microsoft Defender for Business in this blog.

Extending Protection for hybrid – Microsoft Teams Connect: 

To thrive in this new world, every organisation needs a digital fabric that binds the organisation together with secure communication, collaboration, and creation, and enables flexibility and strengthen connections across people and teams. At the centre of it all is Microsoft Teams. This is what makes experiences like Microsoft Teams Connect already possible today. Our flexible and dynamic identity platform, Azure AD, underpins Microsoft Teams to help ensure that every access request, whether internal or external, is secured. It makes establishing secure collaboration across organizational boundaries possible. Security leaders can easily establish inter-company trust, and all employees across multiple companies can collaborate as one extended team.

To understand what is happening and what threats are out there. Education is the first line of defence. To read more and to download the report go to Microsoft Digital Defense Report and Security Intelligence Reports