COVID-19 and the Increasing Risk of Cyber Attacks

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically pushed businesses to become more digital at an unprecedented pace and today – more than a year and a half after lock-downs first started – remote work remains the default work arrangement in many industries and countries around the globe. Yet, many businesses have not considered the unique cybersecurity needs of now-remote workers who are connecting to potentially unsecured home networks while accessing company resources from personal devices. This makes it more important than ever for your company to ensure the secure exchange of business information and sensitive data.

The flow of data occurs on a global scale; it doesn’t recognize borders or nationalities. So, in identifying the need for secure barriers, countries erect strict compliance laws.

In Singapore, this is known as the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), regulated by the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC). All businesses are required to implement adequate security measures to protect the personal data in its care.

In fact, the rising cyber security threat was cited as one of the main reasons for the recent surge of data breach alerts received by PDPC, which have tripled in recent months. The compromised data often included names, email addresses, financial details and addresses of individuals across Singapore. PDPC said "data breaches are often caused by human error as well as malicious activities such as phishing or cyber-attacks."

These breaches increase the speed at which the reputation of a company – or even an entire industry – can change in the public eye.

Why Data Loss Prevention Matters to You

The majority of successful companies of today are well aware of common data security issues and put a great deal of trust into their own efforts towards preventing a data security breach.

However, as demonstrated by recent security breaches at several large Singapore companies that affected more than 600,000 peoples’ personal data, no set of security measures is completely infallible. These organisations were fined a total of $75,000 for the security lapses that led to the breaches.

The need for strong data loss prevention measures is not just about avoiding fines or keeping your business secrets safe. Your clientele’s private information is at risk too.

Don’t lose the trust you’ve worked so hard to earn from your customers. Data protection builds a reputation of credibility that proves clients can rely on your products and services.

5 Ways to Help Prevent Data Breaches

Start with responsible management of data. Here are some strategies for your organization:

1. Regularly update the patches of your cyber security systems.
2. Safeguard your organization's proprietary information and sensitive data (including your clients’ personal data). Review your data protection and privilege access policies.
3. Consider leveraging the expanded PDPA consent framework as a model to follow. In this regard, data protection impact assessments are key – organizations will need to demonstrate their assessment of the impact of new initiatives based on the expanded framework.
4. Invest in the right security solutions and find the best cybersecurity partner for your data protection needs.
5. Provide internal training sessions on updated policies and procedures, and regular refreshers on cybersecurity best practices for all employees.

How Trustwave Can Help

Managed Detection and Response Services 

At Trustwave, we provide Managed Detection and Response services, powered with our proven Trustwave Fusion platform and best-in-class Trustwave SpiderLabs® threat intelligence and expertise.

Focus on the Data That Matters

Trustwave Fusion connects your environment to our high-capacity, streaming detection and response platform. We focus on cloud-based connections that pull in environment telemetry from your endpoints, networks, clouds and system logs give you more usable insights from your existing security tools.  

Real-Time Monitoring and Human-Led Threat Hunting

Trustwave provides real-time, 24x7 monitoring, as well as advanced threat detection using your environment telemetry along with our proprietary threat intelligence and hypothesis-driven, human-led threat hunting.

Rapid Automated Response - Driven by Clients

We work with you to understand your specific needs and establish ‘rules of the road’ to inform how we respond. These protocols enable our skilled analysts to make fast and effective response decisions, based on your business context.

Download our Managed Threat Detection and Response data sheet to learn more about how Trustwave identifies and eliminates active threats in your environment. 

Database Risk Discovery Services

Trustwave’s Database Risk Discovery Services allow your business to discover, assess and report in minutes on the security, risk or compliance posture of any database or big data store within your environment – whether on premises or in the cloud. 

Using our AppDetectivePro (ADP) solution, Trustwave conducts security scans on your identified databases and provides the results in a Database Risk Discovery Report. Key benefits include: 

• Easy to deploy and use, with low hardware requirements. 
• Built-in regulatory policies – or create your own policies to match specific business needs. 
• User rights review helps you identify privileged users and improve audit planning. 
• A continuously updated knowledgebase backed by Trustwave SpiderLabs. 

Security Awareness and Education

Your organization has sensitive and proprietary data to protect, and it is essential your employees understand the risks relevant to their duties.  

Trustwave Security Awareness Education (SAE) offers role-based security awareness content with embedded phishing capabilities to help you and your staff strengthen the company’s security posture. The complimentary SAE courses will help your employees who may be new to a remote work environment become aware and vigilant against phishing, malware and social engineering threats 

Through the awareness programs, your organization can develop a team approach to risk management that engages and empowers every employee to participate in cyber threat prevention, detection and response. Help your employees be your best defense. 

Download Trustwave Cybersecurity Education data sheet to learn more. 

Why Trustwave?

Trustwave is recognized as a Top Leader in Managed Security Services by Gartner, IDC and Forrester 2020, and has more than 20 years’ experience in securing data in Government and large enterprises globally. 

Talk to us to find out how we help to identify and eliminate active threats in your environment. www.trustwave.com