3 Measures To Take Now That Can Help Your IT Clients If They Are Breached

By Ally Kutz, contributing writer

Some of your IT clients could still believe they won’t be targeted by hackers, but Logicalis US says otherwise. No company’s data is safe regardless of the business’ size — from small businesses to large corporations. Each day, the list of companies breached by hackers grows, with no single solution available to deal with the issue.

Mike Johnson, director of collaboration and networked solutions at Logicalis, says, “Cyberattacks and data breaches can come through any device and any interface in an IT environment. Imagine what will happen when the Internet of Things is fully under way and millions of hackable devices are interfacing with computing infrastructure on a daily basis.”

Not only are the systems hackable, but also those doing the hacking are no rookies. Johnson continues, “Cybercriminals are smart, and as the market for stolen data grows, so too do hackers’ skills and sophistication. Attacks are becoming harder to detect; some even remain dormant within networks for long periods of time, amassing resources to be used in future attacks both within and outside of the host organization’s infrastructure. A silver bullet that will solve all of this just doesn’t exist, which means CIOs have a lot of sleepless nights ahead of them worrying about what could happen next.”

Although it may sound hopeless, Johnson has some advice on the matter: “The best remedy is to be both thoroughly prepared and flexible in your approach to fighting system breaches, and to be ready with a solution to thwart attacks before they occur, detect them when they do occur, and contain and eliminate them after they have occurred.”

Logicalis US lists three measures you can take now that will help your IT clients if a data breach occurs:

• See Everything. IT solutions providers should be able to see everything happening on the network, either physically or virtually, at all times — this even includes keeping an eye on mobile devices and the cloud. It is also essential to apply your knowledge and understanding in order to assess potential threats in order to stop them before they become an issue.
• Be Prepared. More than ever, IT solutions providers need to be able to quickly detect breaches and be ready to intervene in order to solve the issue before it grows. It is important for your client to have pre-planned procedures in the case of a breach in order to keep any damage to a minimum. Since hacking can happen at any time and without warning, it is important to stay vigilant.
• Eliminate Gaps. Even though your client’s network may be secured, it is important to make sure this security reaches to all devices and cloud platforms that the network interacts with. According to Logicalis US, “Having a unified set of policies and procedures as well as a method for centrally managing the corporate compute infrastructure from end to end will eliminate some of the gaps that spell opportunity for hackers and will increase the IT department’s ability to more quickly detect breaches that do occur and enforce security measures that will reduce the damage done.”