Your cybersecurity architecture needs to have these 6 critical components

With cybercriminals employing a wide array of methods to steal your business’s confidential information nowadays, your IT team should always be fully alert to any cyberattack that may occur. But they can’t do it alone. People, tools, and processes must work in sync in safeguarding your organization’s IT infrastructure. In this article, we’ll discuss the vital elements of any cybersecurity infrastructure so you can maintain a strong cybersecurity posture.

Cybersecurity architecture and its essential components

Cybersecurity architecture is a framework of policies and processes for securing an organization’s IT infrastructure. This combines all the technologies, tools, and security measures that work together to protect computers, networks, and data from internal and external attacks. If done correctly, your security architecture can help ensure that any sensitive information stored in your organization’s in-house databases or cloud-based systems remains safe.

Make sure you incorporate the following critical components into your cybersecurity architecture to boost your IT systems, anticipate potential cyberthreats, and block them before they do any damage.

1. Firewall

Firewalls allow you to control the type of traffic that can access your network and block anything that does not meet your established policies. They also let you segment access to all areas of your network and restrict access to certain users.

Furthermore, firewalls help protect against malware, ransomware, and other malicious attacks by inspecting incoming and outgoing data packets. They may use port and protocol filtering to monitor inbound and outbound traffic on ports commonly used by cybercriminals, thus preventing malicious traffic from getting through your network’s defenses. Additionally, firewalls can be configured to detect suspicious activity such as large file transfers that could indicate an ongoing attack or one that’s about to take place.

2. Intrusion prevention systems (IPS)

Intrusion prevention systems work hand in hand with firewalls by monitoring all data packets entering or leaving the network for signs of malicious activity. If it detects any suspicious behavior, the IPS will alert the system administrator to take the appropriate action, such as blocking or quarantining a connection before it does serious damage.

3. Endpoint protection

The primary goal of endpoint protection is to detect and prevent malicious activity from occurring in your network, which can be done by monitoring endpoints like computers, mobile gadgets, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices for signs of suspicious behavior. Endpoint protection solutions can be hardware, software, or a combination of the two and are designed to detect advanced threats such as zero-day attacks and malware that can bypass traditional security measures.

4. Web filtering

Web filtering helps protect against malicious threats that can come from accessing malicious websites. A web filter analyzes and categorizes web traffic to identify potentially malicious sites, and then blocks access to those sites.

In addition to providing protection from malicious content, web filtering can also be used to enforce acceptable use policies within an organization, such as prohibiting access to certain types of content like pornography or gambling sites.

5. Access control systems

Access control systems allow organizations to protect sensitive information by restricting who has access to the system and what they can do within it. They do this by monitoring user activity, determining which users have access to which network resources, and providing authentication so that only authorized users are allowed in.

Access control systems usually include user authentication, role-based access control (RBAC), and multifactor authentication protocols.

• User authentication requires users to provide a username and password before they can access the network.
• Role-based access control is a mechanism that grants privileges and restricts access based on the user’s specific role in the organization.
• Multifactor authentication protocols require users to enter multiple pieces of information (e.g., a password and biometric data) before they can gain access.

6. Cyber resiliency assessment

Cyber resiliency assessment provides a comprehensive overview of the organization’s current cybersecurity posture. It evaluates the effectiveness of existing measures, identifies any potential gaps, and helps to develop an actionable plan for improvement.

A cyber resiliency assessment should include an in-depth review of the organization’s security policies, procedures, and tools used to protect against cyberattacks. This includes identifying any potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited (such as weak authentication or inadequate encryption) and determining the risk associated with each threat. The assessment should also consider internal factors such as employee training and awareness programs, patch management policies, and the organization’s response plan in the event of a breach.

Related reading: Cybersecurity: Always keep in mind its human component

NetWize’s IT experts help businesses in Salt Lake City and across Utah stay on top of their cybersecurity infrastructure and make sure it is up to date with the latest security measures and protocols. Call us today at 801-747-3200 or leave us a message to get started.