Making the Case for the Consolidated Security Stack: A Quick Overview


Whether you work as a chief information security officer (CISO) or just a cybersecurity specialist at the IT department, you know the difficulty of maintaining a secure and efficient network for your business. Threats of breaches, hacks, and other risks are commonplace in the corporate sphere, and COVID-19 has only increased the challenge of handling them.

Companies respond by adopting a mix of point solutions that cover individual aspects of network security, from protecting networks to securing services. However, there is significant benefit to be found in streamlining your digital security with an integrated approach that makes each solution work cohesively together. A consolidated security stack also helps you take advantage of automation tools and enterprise-wide intelligence to simplify the process further.

CISOs and cybersecurity professionals need to hear about security consolidation and what it can do for the business’s increasingly complicated needs.

 

The Problem With Disparate Solutions

Companies are relying too much on a spread of different point solutions, which contribute to a few problems general to most modern businesses:

Complexity

For a large enterprise environment, dealing with all the separated security tools requires a lot of deployment time and management effort. The issue is compounded by older, legacy deployments that take extra time to integrate with newer systems.

A study by Forrester Consulting revealed that 3 out of 5 organizations are aware of how expensive it can be to manage many different types of security alerts.

Security Leaks

By consolidating security procedures, you can fill in the gaps due to a lack of integration among the working parts of your security stack. In another study by Forrester Consulting, it was found that the use of a holistic security solution (in this case, Microsoft Defender for Office 365) reduced the chance of data breaches by 60% and significantly accelerated incident recovery.

Client businesses have also noticed the benefit. One customer claimed that only needing one license was much easier to work with than handling multiple contracts together.

Cost Management

On the same note, a single license also means only one entry in the budget to balance. An integrated solution also has the potential to charge much less than several different ones.

Cost management is clearly a priority in the coming years, as three-fourths of IT leaders expect to spend either the same or less in the future and almost half of them want to invest more in cost control.

Why You Should Aim for a Unified Stack

Current security teams are struggling to keep up with complex solutions, and many organizations poorly integrate each individual device, network, and tool in the stack. A consolidated security stack is the answer.

Not only does it reduce complexity across the enterprise but it also helps you leverage automation and AI-based technologies that will play an increasingly important role in modern cybersecurity.

Another tool used more often than ever is the cloud. Cloud-based features like Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) and Extended Detection and Response (XDR) generate automated responses to online attacks and alerts your teams of threats that would otherwise go unchecked.

Making It Easier for the End-User

No matter how much effort you put into cybersecurity, the overall protection of the enterprise is only as strong as that of its individual users. Insider attacks are becoming a larger threat, with 68% of organizations believing that they are vulnerable, and not many of them are confident in their abilities to deal with the problem.

An insider attack isn’t always voluntary; many employees accidentally leak sensitive data because of complicated security tools and practices. The shift to remote work in recent years has only exacerbated this issue. How can you ensure end-users in the company get the resources they need to work efficiently while still maintaining proper cybersecurity practices?

The solution lies in providing tools to remove friction from the process. Those include:

  • Single sign-on: A seamless way for one account to give full employee access to organization data and services.
  • Multi factor authentication: Solves the common problem of weak passwords. 4 out of 5 data breaches in 2019 were actually caused by compromised passwords.
  • Password alternatives: Microsoft Authenticator, for instance, is a simple authentication method for mobile devices and web browsers that’s perfect for remote workers. There’s also biometric logins like Windows Hello.

Features like these shift away from traditional perimeter-based defenses and towards an identity management-centered approach to cybersecurity. They also introduce the Zero Trust model to businesses, or the secure practice of assuming everyone is untrusted until the identity is fully verified.

What Should You Take Away From This Year?

What have current and predicted trends told us about the nature of enterprise cybersecurity? We all know it’s important, but experts have also found out that the overuse of point solutions is causing too much complexity in the digital security sector.

In order to respond to a quickly changing landscape of digital threats, companies should look to consolidated platforms that offer better visibility into organization-wide security vulnerabilities and access to AI-based automation tools.

If you want to learn more, download the full report here.


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Ken Perkins

Biography coming soon.

Megan Miller

Megan Miller’s energy and passion for learning flow into all aspects of her work. As the Growth Manager, North America, she brings a background in sciences which she has transitioned to the tech sector in her role at Difenda.

With a Bachelors of Science in Geology, Megan is a lifelong learner who is voracious about learning anything she can get her hands on about cybersecurity. Her positive energy has built a sales strategy with a focus on expanding in the United States while nurturing the Canadian presence. She is responsible for recruiting and training the sales team. Together with the company’s leadership, she creates the sales process and the company’s product strategy in order to better serve the customer base. This ensures that our customers have a highly trained and highly motivated team to help them every step of the way, Megan has completed Microsoft SC-900 training and working towards mastering Microsoft.

Whether at work or play, Megan is fully committed. She took her love of hockey all the way to the semi-professional level as a competitive hockey player. Megan loves all things sports including water skiing, scuba diving, cycling, and snowboarding. She also enjoys time with family and reading about alternative energy, innovation, and cybersecurity.

Natasha Phanor

As the Microsoft Partner Manager at Difenda, Natasha Phanor is responsible for driving growth within our Microsoft Partnership. With six years in the industry, she offers a fresh, energetic approach, and the ability to focus on our customer’s needs throughout the entire process. Natasha has the innate ability to foresee customer needs and solve problems before they arise, which creates a smooth road for each customer she encounters.

As the recipient of the Outstanding Services Partner of the Year Award in 2018, it is clear that Natasha responds quickly to customer needs, creates a platform for understanding a customer’s business requirements, and walks them through the process to ensure their complete satisfaction.

In her spare time, Natasha is as energetic and passionate as she is on the job. A self-proclaimed foodie-extraordinaire, she enjoys dinner parties, traveling, downhill skiing, hiking, biking, and reading. Natasha has a Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in Dance, from Ryerson University.

Lisa Templeton

Lisa Templeton is the perfect combination of human empathy and technological prowess. In her role as People Services Manager, she takes care of our team members to support them in their daily work, as well as on their personal life paths. Happy employees make for happy customers, and Lisa excels in giving our employees the tools they need for success in order to become the best possible versions of themselves. Along with employee formation, she shines in the service delivery support domain to continuously improve the process. Her 24 years of experience in IT Operations and Service Management help her create quality and efficiency at Difenda.

Having attended the Information Systems Management certificate program at Ryerson University, and with various other certifications to her credit, Lisa is perceptive and innovative when it comes to information technology, but also sensitive to the needs of her human constituents. Responsible for achieving the first privately owned company HDI Support Center certification in Canada, she has also designed and implemented Service Management excellence programs and 24×7 IT Operations departments for multiple IT organizations, and has created corporate rewards and recognition programs to keep her employees engaged and motivated.

On the personal side, Lisa passionately supports the cause of breast cancer research, having lost her mother to the disease. She reads voraciously in her spare time, and enjoys the art of home renovation. The summer months also bring time on her boat and exploring new hiking trails.

Miranda McCurdy

Miranda McCurdy uses her myriad super powers in all aspects of her job and personal life. As the Marketing Director at Difenda, Miranda McCurdy brings over a decade of experience to the table, which includes expertise in all facets of operations, brand management, and content marketing, as well as a multitude of successful strategies for the ever-expanding digital world. She is an expert at simplifying the message the company is trying to send, filling in gaps in the information, and strengthening the content in order to create compelling narratives that strengthen the brand and developing programs that bring teams together.

With several Addy Awards issued by the American Advertising Federation Cleveland to her credit, and her never say die attitude, Miranda understands both the broader picture and the minute details that are needed to successfully market a product. With her abilities to harness both the talent needed to spread the message, as well as to create the message itself, she is an integral cog in the company’s ability to communicate with customers and other stakeholders.

When she is not building a brand, she shares her ability to fill the gaps in her community by volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, the Special Olympics, and the Charleston Food Bank. In her spare time, Miranda spends time with her family, enjoys fitness and health, paddle boarding, reading, and arts and crafts.

Juliana Zaremba

Connections are the name of the game for Juliana Zaremba. As Strategic Partnerships Director, she is responsible for Difenda’s channel partnerships and the development and ownership of the channel partner program. She is also responsible for the global Microsoft Partnership, including the creation of strategic plans with MSFT contacts that will facilitate the continued growth of the business and establish certification and training protocols in all security technologies. Her role is multifaceted, as she acquires partners, manages relationships with them, and develops strategies that will provide cutting edge security solutions to our customer base. Another integral aspect of her job is to facilitate growth.

With a Bachelor’s in Math from the University of Waterloo and 14 years of experience from her previous roles at Herjavec Group and CDW, her cutting edge focus and ability to develop long-lasting relationships and strategies provides world class security solutions to our customer base.

Juliana thrives on connections outside of work as well. She is a philanthropist and contributor with Women4Change based in Hamilton. This group of local women is passionate about supporting local causes, and she focuses her efforts around Women in STEM. She is also a member of Club Italia in Niagara Falls and supports their youth events throughout the year.

When not managing the Microsoft Global partnership, Juliana enjoys reading, often reading several books at once. Juliana enjoys exploring the Niagara Escarpment with her family, as well as sharing meals and experiences with her extended family. Juliana’s competitive nature has her always trying new things, like Whoop band challenges and Peloton.

Jeffry Jacob

Biography Coming Soon