Page 82 - SAMENA Trends - August 2019

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS

To understand what’s at stake with this thought impossible just a few years ago. In order to do this, the private network
rapidly rising market, let’s look at the risks must have four qualities:
of today’s public internet, the latest growth Rise of the IoT
of the IoT, and one approach to securing At the same time, advancements in 1. Privacy and isolation from the public
network connectivity in this new era. miniaturization and mobile technology internet in order to protect valuable data
have accelerated IoT adoption. This and assets.
Among the many online explosion of devices able to collect and 2. Connectivity global in scale but flexible
risks businesses must face, transmit massive amounts of data poses enough to address specific vertical
market needs.
an additional risk for all those sensitive
malware and ransomware, transactions that need to happen at 3. High capacity, high speed, and low
data thefts and breaches, the speed of business. With everything latency to meet the needs of new use
cases.
connected to the public internet potentially
and distributed denial of vulnerable to being hacked, millions of 4. Ability to view and manage all members
service (DDoS) attacks new IoT devices designed and produced of a network environment.
have all become threats without any meaningful attempt to secure With everything connected
them will become subject to impending
to cloud- and IoT-focused compromise. to the public internet
companies relying on the This growth raises the stakes exponentially potentially vulnerable to
public internet. for unsecured (and unsecurable) networks being hacked, millions of
and calls into question previous risk
Systemic risk of public internet acceptance decisions that connected new IoT devices designed
Unlike a targeted threat that jeopardizes business systems via the public internet. and produced without any
one element of a company, a systemic Since the IoT’s entire premise is built
risk can bring an entire operation to a halt upon connectivity, an attack that exploits meaningful attempt to
and cause total failure. Put simply, many or compromises this connectivity has the secure them will become
businesses continue to face this systemic potential to wreak unprecedented havoc. subject to impending
risk by relying on the public internet to
connect to hosted cloud services and Private, isolated networks compromise.
support their adoption of the IoT in pursuit As businesses explore new opportunities
of new opportunities. for the IoT, they must acknowledge that A future built on security first
the public internet is no longer fit to The Middle East and Africa are primed
Among the many online risks businesses provide the secure global connectivity for a dynamic growth phase for the IoT
must face, malware and ransomware, that is imperative to fulfill its promise. and a new era in connectivity – as well
data thefts and breaches, and distributed Instead, the use of a private, isolated as vulnerability. As businesses seize the
denial of service (DDoS) attacks have network has emerged as an alternative opportunities of this era, they risk leaving
all become threats to cloud- and IoT- and more practical answer to protecting their commercial data exposed to a public
focused companies relying on the public online transactions in an age when the internet never intended for that purpose.
internet. And the world has now seen even IoT is creating ever-greater risk. A private Ultimately, smart companies that want to
greater cyber-calamities, like cloud-based network can significantly reduce business conduct business and transact at speed
cryptojacking, cloud ransomware, and risk by connecting devices and processes with the highest security and privacy must
DDoS attacks on an unimaginable scale, completely independent from the public integrate the use of a private, isolated
generating terabit per second volumes internet. network to protect their data.
of malicious traffic that were previously

82 AUGUST 2019