Information is the lifeblood of global economy and any organization today is riding on this wild horse that is always threatened by security risks. As enterprises grapple with volumes of unstructured data through multifarious channels, the risks to information security are on a spiraling trend, courtesy advanced technologies such as cloud computing, social networking and the growing consumerization of IT. Hardly a month into the new year and major firms such as Target Corp. and Yahoo are facing massive data breaches. Target Corp. faced a malware attack that exposed credit and debit card data of over a 100 million customers!And such advanced threats are set to rise through the year and in future making Information Security a really tough nut to crack. One of the advanced threats anticipated this year is watering hole attacks and sophisticated spear phishing, driven by social engineering and automation to produce mass customization of emails as malware lures. Additionally, there is also the upsurge of Spyware and Trojan Horse programs that can be very dangerous to enterprises and become a costly predicament. IDC reports that currently, 75% of enterprise desktops are infected with spyware that they aren’t aware of.

Some of the archetypal challenges that enterprises face in IT security are:

• Constantly evolving risk and attacks – As technology advances and evolves; so does the ways to threaten them and cause harm. Highly advanced and changing forms of malwares are a constant challenge for companies
• Increase in complexity and evolving technology landscape – With mobility, de-parameterization and cloud adoption, new threat vectors are constantly evolving
• Point solution approach – Various security solutions provide good protection against a specific security problem, however, interoperability between the various solutions is an issue
• Significant effort and expertise – Significant effort and expertise is required in deployment, management and fine-tuning of the security solutions
• Reactive mode of operation – Most security solutions are only a protection device for any attack as it occurs, proactively detecting threat is still missing

The need of the hour, therefore, is an integrated, secure and intelligent enterprise solution that not only mitigates security challenges, but also pre-empts potential risks by detecting any anomaly that can pose a threat. In other words, development of a sophisticated prevention-better-than-cure system for information security is the weapon to combat the looming threat.

These kind of sophisticated systems deploy sensors around the world and keep looking for specific network domains that broadcast malware. By integrating reputation services with the general network firewall and IPS devices, these systems can identify malicious software and abnormal network events. The early warning system ticks in by collecting data from actual internet traffic and mapping any new infection moving around the world.

This is the most viable and safest option for enterprises to adopt in the current industry scenario. However, as it is in every aspect of life, threat remains to be unpredictable and unforeseen. The bad will try to find a way in. This is what calls for companies to proactively deploy robust practices and develop resilience. Similarly, innovation and readiness becomes imperative for the security service providers to remain in business.