Increase in Security Treats
The number of security threats present in today’s rapidly evolving world continues to increase. With vulnerabilities including foreign intrusion, external malware, and ransomware becoming commonplace, your network is important. According to global research firm Market Research Future, the cybersecurity market is expected to grow from approximately $218 billion in 2021 to over $345 billion in 2026 — a 9.6% compounding annual growth rate (CAGR). This growth in market size and demand is driven largely by IoT adoption and its associated security risks. With the exponential growth of mobile devices, remote work, and cloud-based systems, potential hacker risks have subsequently increased.
Security Risks of Interconnected Devices
First, let’s examine the current landscape of interconnected devices. Many IoT devices lack adequate security measures, making them attractive targets for hackers. Addressing these IoT security issues promptly is essential, as these devices continue to become more integrated into daily lives and critical infrastructure. Along with this growth in IoT devices, a company’s attack surface increases, putting a company’s core systems and data even more at risk. Connected devices have limited processing power, hence additional layers of protection against external attacks are needed.
Therefore, a multidimensional approach and a comprehensive strategy for security must be taken. Companies must prioritize security features, firmware updates, and robust authentication mechanisms to protect against IoT-related threats. Multiple layers of cybersecurity need to be implemented, including both hardware and software layers. For instance, an area of susceptibility lies within the code in the device firmware that runs when the OS is launched. Hackers will often search for ways to inject a malicious file or program into this code under the OS. To combat this, an effective solution is multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA prevents unauthorized access to your data and applications by requiring a second method of verifying your identity, making a device more secure.
How Embedded Computing Provides Cybersecurity
As embedded systems become more common in everyday items, such as cars, medical devices, and home security systems, they also pose significant security risks if not properly secured. Since many of these items also connect to both public and private internet connections, they are even more vulnerable to cyberattacks, while also impacting device functionality, consumer experience, and business data.
To properly secure embedded systems, several issues must be overcome, including limited processing power, lack of interoperability, and minimal support for performing over-the-air updates. Following best practices can help tackle these challenges. Taking an in-depth defense approach is key, which may include following mechanisms for protection, including secure boot, secure enclaves, firmware over-the-air (FOTA) updates, and zero trust architecture (ZTA). By taking these security measures, manufacturers, developers, and distributors of digital products can satisfy emerging security, risk, and compliance requirements.
Edge computing is another interconnected technology that enables security for both software and hardware. By minimizing the distance data must travel and curtailing exposure to potential threats, edge computing can help ensure device integrity and amplify cybersecurity by securing network
endpoints. By functioning at the “edge” of an organization’s network, solutions for edge security occur along the network’s furthest points, where the end-user creates and stores data. Critical components of edge security include perimeter security, secure gateways, and endpoint security.
An example of a perimeter security solution is one that encompasses a system of firewalls, control and monitoring solutions, and intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDPS). These solutions keep track of the traffic passing through the network and analyze it to identify possible issues. If any issues are detected, perimeter security addresses the problems and stops further passage of malicious traffic.
Similarly, secure gateways monitor, encrypt, authenticate, and control communications with other networks. They also protect the data that is transferred between networks. Secure gateways typically protect devices through micro segmentation within the local network so that security is independent from devices and the cloud. This reduces exposure of unpatched devices to threats and allows for easy deployment.
Meanwhile, endpoint security protects devices that are connected to the network with antivirus software, password management, and other solutions that reduce vulnerabilities. This translates into security policies that maintain device integrity, network safety, and data protection.
Ensuring Business Continuity and Operational Resilience
By utilizing edge computing for security purposes, companies can ensure business continuity and operational resilience. With real-time data monitoring and rapid response times, edge computing translates into proactive threat detection. Unusual activities and anomalies can be quickly identified, allowing for immediate action, rather than waiting for data to travel to a central server and back for analysis. Devices operating on the edge can be programmed to take defensive measures instantly upon detecting threats. This includes shutting down specific operations, alerting administrators, or isolating affected components.
Similarly, AI is mission-critical to cybersecurity since it enables security software to take a more intelligent approach to virus and malware detection. With machine learning, cybersecurity systems can analyze patterns and learn from them to help prevent similar attacks and respond to changing behavior. This allows cybersecurity teams to be more proactive in preventing threats and responding to active attacks in real time.
Intrusion Detection and Intrusion Prevention Solutions (IDS/IPS)
Now let’s dive into intrusion detection and intrusion prevention (IDS/IPS) solutions which encompass various layers of security. Worldwide 5G LTE penetration has brought virtually every nation onto the internet at broadband speeds. The Internet of Things proliferation means countless new devices connect online each day. However, this explosion has presented malicious entities with a host of new vectors from which to launch increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. In response, CIOs, network managers, and security professionals continue to harden their defenses in an effort to keep pace. Hardware platforms configured and deployed for specific functions, such as IDS/IPS, are a powerful option for organizations.
To address these needs, a global company turned to ADLINK’s CSA-7400 product to develop a carrier-grade next-gen 100G+ IDS/IPS solution. This Network Intrusion Protection Systems (NIPS) and Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) solution protects customers where traditional, but outmoded, security approaches fall short. NIDS adds a continually updated reputation feature library to an attack rule feature library, and together they supplement known threat detections with the ability to thwart unknown malware and persistent intranet infiltration. NIPS also uses a host of techniques — attack feature library, real-time reputation library, integrated sandbox detection, flow virus detection, and mobile security housekeeper — to defend against multiple threats.
Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN)
Another method of security, one that utilizes next-generation software- defined networking, is software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN). Modern, international companies frequently encounter challenges in building reliable, high-performance networks that span international borders. In many situations, dedicated hardware is cost-prohibitive or otherwise infeasible. SD-WAN has become popular as a way for businesses to incorporate routers, firewalls, DPI, and WAN acceleration with easy management and monitoring. Once implemented, an effective SD-WAN can yield a number of benefits. Edge security devices can connect to the SD-WAN and manage network connections. Moreover, those devices can use dedicated links/multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) to dynamically select a network based on latency, jitter, and/or throughput. SD-WAN multi-router optimization and redundancy maintains uninterrupted traffic as long as one usable path between points exists.
Application Delivery Controller (ADC)
In addition, cloud computing and services have opened new possibilities and given organizations the ability to scale. Whether companies develop cloud technologies in-house or turn to a third-party provider, security, speed, and stability are still of paramount importance. Between the user and the application server, an application delivery network can vastly improve cloud services, and an application delivery controller intelligently manages resources for optimal performance.
With its broad feature set, an application delivery controller (ADC) performs a variety of security functions. With a parallel network engine flowing processing engine, an ADC facilitates virtualization deployments in the cloud and supports leading virtual machine environments (VMware, KVM, Hyper-V) for network application delivery via virtualized software. In particular, ADLINK’s CSA-7200 Series is the ideal match for the High Galaxy’s application delivery controller. Dual Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 v3/v4 CPUs combine Intel® Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) with ADLINK Packet Manager for over 10 times as much data processing as standard usage models.
As data volumes, communication loads, and security risks increase, it is critical for corporations to provide the maximum level of security for their infrastructure. By implementing edge computing solutions for cybersecurity, enterprises are then able to secure their interconnected devices, ensure business continuity, and achieve operational resilience. Visit us online here, and contact us now for a demo.