By now, we’re all aware of the impact that a security breach on a company’s data can have – no matter the size. An independent study conducted by Ponemon Institute LLC (benchmarked by IBM) found:
the average cost of Data Breaches in 2015 was $3.79 million across the 350 companies that took part in the research.
With the frequency and severity of cyber attacks increasing each day, it seems that this number is set to rise over the coming years.
To give a real-world example of the impact poor security can have on a company, see TalkTalk. TalkTalk came under heavy fire from customers and security experts alike when they experienced two data breaches within a 12 month period and revealed that 157,000 customer details had been stolen in their most recent data breach in October 2015. Since revealing this information, TalkTalks’ share price on the London Stock Exchange has been consistently falling week on week, reaching its lowest point over 3 years this month at £2.15 per share. This is a stark and worrying comparison to the share price just a month before the attack in September, where it was up to £3.23 per share.
So what can you do to secure your data? How can you protect your customers and confidential information, and prevent huge costs to your business?
This is where vArmour come in. Founded in 2011, vArmour are a data centre security company based in California who have brought innovation into Data Centre and Cloud environment security. Through their Distributed Security System (DSS) they allow companies to visualize their network traffic to be able to effectively see threats or suspicious behaviour, as well as micro-segment individual workloads.
That’s all well and good, but what does this mean in laymans terms? vArmours’ micro-segmentation offering is designed solely to prevent the worst from happening should an attacker gain access to one of your servers. Instead of just having “perimeter” security such as a singular firewall, micro-segmentation allows companies to segregate and implement further firewalls around specific workloads. This means that if an attacker gets access to one server, they do not have instant access to all the data within your organization, making your company much more secure. You can visualise it as instead of having one, huge complex lock to protect your data you have hundreds of smaller locks.
Along with the micro-segmentation that is available, vArmour also provides full visualisation of your network. This allows companies to identify suspicious network activity through real-time monitoring and visibility with full trending and analytics. If you want to get a hands on with vArmour, you can request a free 60 day trial from their website.
In the following weeks we’ll be looking at vArmour in more detail and explaining the technology behind their goals. For now, if you are interested in learning more about vArmour feel free to send us an email. One of our servicedesk team will be more than happy to talk you through how vArmour can benefit your company.
About the Author: Mike Starnes
Mike has worked in the IT Industry for over 20 years. If he's not talking technology, he'll be reading, playing football or trying to embarrass his daughters.
