Chris Usserman, principal security architect at Infoblox, has said security professionals seeking to protect agency information technology systems from cyber vulnerabilities should adopt automation to help track activities within and outside their IT environments while ensuring their networks’ functionality.
Usserman wrote that an integrated IT ecosystem combined with automation could help agencies detect cyber threats.
“An integrated ecosystem not only collects information from external sources, but also understands what to do with it. By automating existing manual processes, the ecosystem could inform agencies, for example, when a new device connects to the network so that it can be scanned for vulnerabilities,†he said.
Usserman cited how a zero-trust approach and encryption of data at rest could help agencies protect data and users from vulnerabilities.
Agencies should accelerate the detection of malware as they increase the adoption of cloud platforms and mobile devices, he noted.
“One of the best ways to protect those systems is to control a device as soon as it reaches out to the internet. … If an agency can intercept malware at that point and immediately take action through automation, the agency has a much better chance of containing the threat,†Usserman added.
