With the increase of threats from both physical and cyber environments it’s critical that both physical security managers and information security professionals work together. More and more infiltration can come through on-premise devices used for physical security like surveillance cameras, access control proximity card readers or any IoT security device.
Security Managers are responsible for planning and monitoring the security operations for any kind of organization or facility. They generate policies that ensure workplace safety and the overall protection of visitors and employees. Ongoing monitoring, loss prevention and managing security technology for on-premise authorizations and or investigations are key elements involved in the security managers responsibilities. Thus, a collaborative work between Security Manager and IT department can help to achieve the common goal of building a Security Infrastructure for your organization.
Role of IT Professionals in ensuring Security of an Organization:
IT professional have strong background in Information Technology with a clear understanding of the challenges of information security. They have excellent analytical and problem-solving skills to identify, troubleshoot the root cause of the issue and fix security risks. They brainstorm on the weak points that might make information systems vulnerable to attack. They may carry out simulated attacks to test the efficiency of security measures before implementing them. They also prioritize security coverage to ensure that important data, such as commercial information or personal data, receives the highest levels of protection.
How IT department can help Security Manager in building a Security Infrastructure?
A Security Manager assesses and mitigate the potential risks faced by an organization. These security hazards range from theft, employee fraud and vandalism to environmental disasters or terrorist attacks. Security managers regularly evaluate the risks faced by their organization and use this information to find solutions that will mitigate the threat. IT department with its technical skills can help Security managers in the risk assessment and brainstorm on finding the right solutions that leads to quality mitigation strategies to eliminate potential hazards.
IT department work on various IT security technologies to protect sensitive information from Internal and External threats. These Security Technologies are
Network Security
Endpoint Security
Internet Security
Cloud Security
Application Security
Network Security
Network Security includes API Security, Servers, Application Security, Databases. Network Security protects your network both hardware and software. Network administrators are responsible for making sure the integrity of your network remains intact. A hacker has the ability to gain unauthorized access to your network in order to commit crimes and blocking your access.
To avoid sure illegal incidents, it’s important to detect the weaknesses in the network, which can be achieved using Social Engineering, Vulnerability assessment, Penetration testing, Network Intrusion detection system and Firewalls.
Social Engineering
The practice of protecting against threats by building secure networks and protect against malicious attacks.
Vulnerability assessment
The process of identifying and prioritizing the vulnerabilities in the system.
Penetration testing
An authorized simulated cyberattack on a computer system, performed to evaluate the security of the system.
Network intrusion detection systems (NIDS)
This type of software monitors a system for malicious activity.
The other types of threats are:
Denial of service attacks
Data interception and theft
Identity theft
SQL injection
Other methods of protecting networks include:
These act like a blueprint for an organization to set up policies and procedures for managing security in an enterprise setting.
Trends in Security Framework Adoption Survey shows 84% of companies in the US leverage a security framework in their company, and 44% use more than one framework.
The most frequently adopted frameworks are:
- PCI DSS (approx 47%)
- ISO 27001/27002 (approx 35%)
- CIS Critical Security Controls (approx 32%)
- NIST Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure Security (approx 29%)
Adding salt is just like adding random data, to a password makes common passwords unique. Pepper is also a random variable attached to the password, which is helpful in slowing hackers down.
[/chiac_divi_accordions_item][/chiac_divi_accordions][chiac_divi_accordions _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][chiac_divi_accordions_item title=”Authorization” chiac_subtitle_state=”off” chiac_header_margin=”|23px||23px|false|false” chiac_title_bg_color=”#ffffff” chiac_title_bg_color_o=”#05a9e2″ chiac_title_margin=”||||false|false” chiac_title_padding=”|20px|8px|20px|false|false” chiac_select_fonticon=”1||divi||400″ chiac_l_icon_size=”23px” chiac_l_icon_color=”#05a9e2″ chiac_l_icon_color_o=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_rotate=”on” chiac_select_r_fonticon=”||divi||400″ chiac_r_icon_size=”23px” chiac_r_icon_color=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_color_o=”#05a9e2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ chiac_title_level=”h2″ chiac_title_font=”|700|||||||” chiac_title_text_align=”left” global_colors_info=”{}”]Authorization, authentication, and two-factor authentication can help to provide additional security. [/chiac_divi_accordions_item][/chiac_divi_accordions][chiac_divi_accordions _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][chiac_divi_accordions_item title=”Application whitelisting ” chiac_subtitle_state=”off” chiac_header_margin=”|23px||23px|false|false” chiac_title_bg_color=”#ffffff” chiac_title_bg_color_o=”#05a9e2″ chiac_title_margin=”||||false|false” chiac_title_padding=”|20px|8px|20px|false|false” chiac_select_fonticon=”1||divi||400″ chiac_l_icon_size=”23px” chiac_l_icon_color=”#05a9e2″ chiac_l_icon_color_o=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_rotate=”on” chiac_select_r_fonticon=”||divi||400″ chiac_r_icon_size=”23px” chiac_r_icon_color=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_color_o=”#05a9e2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ chiac_title_level=”h2″ chiac_title_font=”|700|||||||” chiac_title_text_align=”left” global_colors_info=”{}”]It prevents unauthorized apps from running on a system. [/chiac_divi_accordions_item][/chiac_divi_accordions][chiac_divi_accordions _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][chiac_divi_accordions_item title=”Firewalls” chiac_subtitle_state=”off” chiac_header_margin=”|23px||23px|false|false” chiac_title_bg_color=”#ffffff” chiac_title_bg_color_o=”#05a9e2″ chiac_title_margin=”||||false|false” chiac_title_padding=”|20px|8px|20px|false|false” chiac_select_fonticon=”1||divi||400″ chiac_l_icon_size=”23px” chiac_l_icon_color=”#05a9e2″ chiac_l_icon_color_o=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_rotate=”on” chiac_select_r_fonticon=”||divi||400″ chiac_r_icon_size=”23px” chiac_r_icon_color=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_color_o=”#05a9e2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ chiac_title_level=”h2″ chiac_title_font=”|700|||||||” chiac_title_text_align=”left” global_colors_info=”{}”]Block unauthorized access to a network. [/chiac_divi_accordions_item][/chiac_divi_accordions][chiac_divi_accordions _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][chiac_divi_accordions_item title=”Honeypots” chiac_subtitle_state=”off” chiac_header_margin=”|23px||23px|false|false” chiac_title_bg_color=”#ffffff” chiac_title_bg_color_o=”#05a9e2″ chiac_title_margin=”||||false|false” chiac_title_padding=”|20px|8px|20px|false|false” chiac_select_fonticon=”1||divi||400″ chiac_l_icon_size=”23px” chiac_l_icon_color=”#05a9e2″ chiac_l_icon_color_o=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_rotate=”on” chiac_select_r_fonticon=”||divi||400″ chiac_r_icon_size=”23px” chiac_r_icon_color=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_color_o=”#05a9e2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ chiac_title_level=”h2″ chiac_title_font=”|700|||||||” chiac_title_text_align=”left” global_colors_info=”{}”]These are mechanism set to detect and counteract attempts at unauthorized use of information systems. [/chiac_divi_accordions_item][/chiac_divi_accordions][chiac_divi_accordions _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][chiac_divi_accordions_item title=”Anti-virus software” chiac_subtitle_state=”off” chiac_header_margin=”|23px||23px|false|false” chiac_title_bg_color=”#ffffff” chiac_title_bg_color_o=”#05a9e2″ chiac_title_margin=”||||false|false” chiac_title_padding=”|20px|8px|20px|false|false” chiac_select_fonticon=”1||divi||400″ chiac_l_icon_size=”23px” chiac_l_icon_color=”#05a9e2″ chiac_l_icon_color_o=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_rotate=”on” chiac_select_r_fonticon=”||divi||400″ chiac_r_icon_size=”23px” chiac_r_icon_color=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_color_o=”#05a9e2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ chiac_title_level=”h2″ chiac_title_font=”|700|||||||” chiac_title_text_align=”left” global_colors_info=”{}”]These software’s prevent computer virus. [/chiac_divi_accordions_item][/chiac_divi_accordions][chiac_divi_accordions _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][chiac_divi_accordions_item title=”Encryption” chiac_subtitle_state=”off” chiac_header_margin=”|23px||23px|false|false” chiac_title_bg_color=”#ffffff” chiac_title_bg_color_o=”#05a9e2″ chiac_title_margin=”||||false|false” chiac_title_padding=”|20px|8px|20px|false|false” chiac_select_fonticon=”1||divi||400″ chiac_l_icon_size=”23px” chiac_l_icon_color=”#05a9e2″ chiac_l_icon_color_o=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_rotate=”on” chiac_select_r_fonticon=”||divi||400″ chiac_r_icon_size=”23px” chiac_r_icon_color=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_color_o=”#05a9e2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ chiac_title_level=”h2″ chiac_title_font=”|700|||||||” chiac_title_text_align=”left” global_colors_info=”{}”]Decoding data, end-to-end encryption often used in messaging apps and platforms that only allows encrypted messages to be read by sender and receiver. [/chiac_divi_accordions_item][/chiac_divi_accordions]Endpoint Security
Endpoint Security includes Computer Security, Mobile Security, Email Security, User Security. Endpoint security technology is securing the data at the place where it both enters and leaves the network. It’s a device-level approach to network security that requires any device remotely accessing a corporate network to be authorized, or it will be blocked from accessing that network. Every Device such as a smartphone, PC, a wireless point-of-sale, or a laptop, accessing the network is a potential entry point for an outside threat. Endpoint security sets policies and procedures to prevent attacks. The Endpoint security software enforces these rules.
The Virtual private network (VPN) needs to be protected to prevent a malware or hacker from entering into your system.
Internet Security
Internet Security includes Cloud Security, Wireless Security. It helps in guarding against Cyber-attacks. Different intrusion block methods like firewalls, anti-malware, and anti-spyware designed to monitor incoming internet traffic from unwanted malwares like spyware or Trojans. Such traffic can be prevented using Encryption. It is a method of encoding data to prevent unauthorized access. Only authorized users can decrypt the data. Different encryption protocols like Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), or a Transport Layer Security (TLS) and implement TCP/IP protocols can help to ensure internet security.
Other internet security arsenal includes:
Forms of email security
SSL certificates
WebSocket’s
HTTPS (encrypted transfer protocols)
OAuth 2.0, a leading authorization security technology
Security tokens
Security software suites, anti-malware, and password managers
Encryption, and end-to-end encryption
Cloud Security
It is the act of protecting data from anywhere. Cloud based access control runs on cloud servers, where everything is stored remotely. With all of this connectivity and the flowing of sensitive information comes new concerns with privacy. The data stored in cloud can be vulnerable to attacks. Its important to implement a new sub-domain of security policies: cloud computing security. Optimizing a cloud Security is never an easy task, it involves Computer Network and Information Security. Businesses use public, private or hybrid cloud where data gets exchanged between the two regularly and needs high level of security.
Building a cloud security network involves how all functions will happen in the cloud-like managing access, protecting data, access from everywhere and much more.
Application Security:
A majority of internet-based vulnerabilities come from applications. Security testing (which should be conducted throughout the code’s lifecycle) digs throughout the application code for vulnerabilities and can be automated during your software development lifecycle. Strategies like Ensuring TLS, Authentication and authorization measures, Data encryption, Session handling, Secure API access helps to bolster application security.
“Physical Security Systems are no longer ‘close circuit’ and now play a meaningful role in IT Infrastructure. “
It’s the responsibility of both the security manager and information security department (or IT Department) to not only utilize advanced technology to help with physical authorizations and investigations but protect internal information from penetration through the IoT security systems.
Since Internet-of-Things-based technology has somewhat recent origins, manufacturers do not prioritize connection security when manufacturing the IoT devices. Therefore, the proliferation of the use of functional but vulnerable objects continues to grow over time. The IoT ecosystem such as Sensors (integrated into the devices), Network Connectivity, sensors exchange protocols, Data hosting infrastructure (the Cloud) and UI resulting from the use of insecure interfaces for both the network and the cloud.
The Security challenges we face with IoT security devices are as follows:
How IoT devices manage Access Control System, Video Surveillance Systems and Emergency Notification Systems?
IoT devices need to be managed both internally, (e.g., software maintenance) and externally (i.e., their communication with other system).
Let’s drive in the details of how these devices are connected.
Every IoT device is connected to a management unit, known as a command and control center. These Centers are responsible for software maintenance, configurations, firmware updates to patch bugs and vulnerabilities, and authenticating tasks, such as device enrollment. Whenever there is a specific command to fetch data, these IoT devices connect with the Database directly linked with the Command and Control Center.
Communication between the devices is enabled via application program interface or APIs. Once a device’s manufacturer exposes its API, applications can use it to gather information and communicate with other connected devices. Some of the APIs even allow control over devices.
IoT devices manage Access Control in a facility: A building manager can use an API to remotely lock doors inside a specific office.
IoT device plays a powerful role in providing surveillance solutions in your facility. It controls surveillance devices remotely to monitor all aspects of a facility.
IoT triggers a false alarm in case of any system issue or device functioning failure. Its never limited, there are so many other areas, IoT is involved.
Effective Security Plan in the Age of IoT
IT department with their knowledge on network Security should support a Security manager to protect their organization from such external and internal threats.
Here is an effective plan to ensure the protection of your IoT security devices and system are as follows:
- Change all the default credentials (username and password) during the initial setting.
- Program your system to block any account after 3 to 5 failed login attempts; and
- Ensure that the cloud-based web interface is not susceptible to SQL and HTML Injection or any kind of vulnerabilities.
- Back up your data locally, in case there is any kind of failure.
- Encryption of your cloud data provides an additional layer of security. Cloud services should ensure encryption during the uploading and downloading of data, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) (256 bits) can help to achieve the goal.
- Encrypt your data before putting into the cloud. Use services that allow passwords and secret key or security question and adopt two-factor authentication that ensures multiple layers of security.
Without proper anti-virus protection for your system, you expose yourself to malware and virus that provide penetration points for hackers to access your system. It is very important to safeguard your system with well-known anti-virus software.
[/chiac_divi_accordions_item][/chiac_divi_accordions][chiac_divi_accordions _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][chiac_divi_accordions_item title=”Respond to Incidents” chiac_subtitle_state=”off” chiac_header_margin=”|23px||23px|false|false” chiac_title_bg_color=”#ffffff” chiac_title_bg_color_o=”#05a9e2″ chiac_title_margin=”||||false|false” chiac_title_padding=”|20px|8px|20px|false|false” chiac_select_fonticon=”1||divi||400″ chiac_l_icon_size=”23px” chiac_l_icon_color=”#05a9e2″ chiac_l_icon_color_o=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_rotate=”on” chiac_select_r_fonticon=”;||divi||400″ chiac_r_icon_size=”23px” chiac_r_icon_color=”#000000″ chiac_r_icon_color_o=”#05a9e2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ chiac_title_level=”h2″ chiac_title_font=”|700|||||||” chiac_title_text_align=”left” global_colors_info=”{}”]Quick troubleshooting tool can help to track issues in a virtual environment that improves your workflow. [/chiac_divi_accordions_item][/chiac_divi_accordions]This collaborate plan between a Security Manager and IT department can certainly help to secure the penetration of information through the IoT security devices.