Table of Content
- What is continuous vigilance?
- Why is continuous vigilance important?
- A deeper insight into continuous vigilance
- The value of continuous vigilance
- How is continuous vigilance implemented?
- Benefits of continuous vigilance:
The heart of most organizations today is technology and data, as these are what most companies rely on to run their business operations. After the COVID-19 pandemic, many firms have now adapted to the dynamic nature of business enabled by an increased reliance on digital technologies, particularly cloud computing. This is most easily seen by the widespread switch toward remote work and hybrid work environments.
With an increased reliance on cloud providers, it's essential for IT security departments to monitor the cybersecurity risks associated with having distributed networks with employees and contractors potentially accessing resources from around the world. That is where continuous vigilance comes into play.
What is continuous vigilance?
Continuous vigilance is a method adopted by IT security professionals who use automated monitoring technology to detect compliance and security risk issues in real time within an organization’s IT infrastructure. Continuous vigilance software provides information about network breaches, security threats, unauthorized access, and control failures.
Why is continuous vigilance important?
Continuous vigilance is an essential component for effective cybersecurity in an organization. It forecasts security attacks by automating the monitoring of information and security systems, security threats, and vulnerabilities. Continuous vigilance provides real-time updates and offers insights into network activity, which supports operational, security, and commercial performance.
Traditional security controls—like firewalls, antivirus software, and regular testing of IT systems—have become increasingly time-consuming and expensive. They do not provide real-time security threat information, but attackers nowadays are working around the clock to find loopholes in your organization to access sensitive data. With the help of continuous vigilance, you can detect application performance issues, identify their cause, and implement a solution before it leads to unplanned application downtime and loss in revenue.
With continuous vigilance in place, you can:
- Have your security architecture constantly evaluated for vulnerabilities, helping you determine which solutions you need to implement to prevent you from exposing your organization to threats.
- Manage the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of your services and data, ensuring that no hindrances exist to slow your business operations.
- Frame your security architecture in such a way that it meets the requirements of NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF), the GDPR, and other IT regulations.
As it stands, businesses require a tool for non-stop monitoring of their data, users, and infrastructure. This is why they need to implement continuous vigilance.
A deeper insight into continuous vigilance
There are various trends that influence the need for continuous vigilance in organizations. They can be broken down into:
Digitization of information:
Many public and private organizations have adapted to storing information on the cloud. By digitizing information, they're able to store more quickly, retrieve, and manipulate data. For organizations that store data in the cloud which includes confidential information—such as personal identifiable information (PII), health records, and private financial details—the protection of confidential information is ensured by continuous vigilance.
Data protection laws:
As the demand for data grows and a greater dependency on digital systems is needed, countries have taken measures to protect users against exploitation. Regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by the EU and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in California are a few regulations that protect data by controlling how consumer data is used. Continuous vigilance helps organizations comply with all regulations, thereby protecting consumer data.
Third parties:
Organizations are increasingly working with contractors to handle their IT security and data needs. However, doing so reduces an organization's ability to guarantee that laws and regulations for sensitive data are being met. Additionally, trusting third parties with security and data means placing the organization at an increased risk of supply chain attacks and data exposure. With continuous vigilance, malicious activities can be detected and prevented before any breach occurs.
The value of continuous vigilance
Implementing a continuous vigilance plan in your organization adds a ton of value to the business because it helps identify:
External attacks:
Although external attacks are hard to predict and defend against, continuous vigilance provides you with the ability to thwart external attackers quickly.
Internal attacks:
Attacks can be launched by someone within the organization as well. Employees, contractors, or partners with legitimate user credentials might go rogue using the organization's data. You can monitor and manage on-premises login access as well as remote access from all endpoints, including mobile devices.
Supply chain attacks:
Attackers can use vendors with access to your organization to attack you. Continuous vigilance warns you about intrusions that originate from third-party providers, possibly as a result of their lack of ongoing watchfulness.
Continuous vigilance can also play a role in monitoring the operational performance of applications. Software solutions equipped with continuous vigilance can help IT operations analysts detect application performance issues, identify their cause, and implement a solution before the issue leads to unplanned downtime and lost revenue.
Ultimately, the goal of continuous vigilance is to provide the IT organizations with near-immediate feedback and insight into performance and interactions across the network, which helps drive operational, security, and business performance.
How is continuous vigilance implemented?
There's a wide variety of solutions available to IT organizations that enable them to monitor network traffic successfully, spot divergences, identify suspicious patterns of behavior, and develop actionable insights.
As a part of implementing continuous vigilance in your organization, you should:
Perform diagnosis:
Identify data stored on all networks, systems, devices, and software. Additionally, identify all users and devices accessing your IT stack.
Perform risk analysis:
Analyze the risk involved in user data, then see if the premises are secured and scan the likelihood of a system being breached. Determine whether the risk has to be accepted or rejected based on the analysis.
Establish risk levels:
You should re-evaluate your risk assessment based on your findings from the risk analysis. These can include implementing tighter security controls on the premises, imposing stringent rules on access to user data by employees, and much more.
Monitor:
It is essential to monitor your IT ecosystem to ensure that mitigation controls are adequate. At the same time, document any activities that demonstrate governance over your ongoing controls.
Respond quickly:
A risk-based plan should have a response rate that involves adhering to any new risks as immediately as possible.
Benefits of continuous vigilance:
Organizations of all sizes must take it upon themselves to secure their data and privacy in today's ever-growing threat landscape. Continuous vigilance provides an overall picture of your organization's security architecture, risk tolerance, and vulnerabilities. With the correct data in hand, you can take the necessary measures to enhance your security.
Here are 3 key benefits of continuous vigilance:
1. Provides transparency and visibility throughout the network:
Continuous vigilance allows administrators to quickly and easily see how the internal workings of an organization's IT infrastructure are being captured and stored. By providing admins with greater clarity, organizations can prevent important events and trends from being overlooked due to lack of system awareness.
2. Facilitates quicker responses:
The amount of time between an incident occurring and the response being given is constrained when an efficient continuous vigilance system is in place. Having access to real-time security intelligence allows incident response teams to mobilize immediately, helping to minimize damage and more quickly restore systems.
3. Stimulates strong business performance:
Tracking user behavior is one of the key capabilities that continuous vigilance helps businesses track. Using event logs, IT teams may monitor user behavior on the network, use that data to improve customer experience, and more effectively lead users to their intended tasks and activities.