When the digital world first emerged, some of its primary uses were sharing and hunting for information. Today, there’s not much that you can’t find on the internet. From conducting financial transactions to building multi-million dollar businesses, everything is possible if you have a reliable internet connection and digital gadget to access the virtual space.
However, these aren’t the only sophisticated advancements making headway in the digital sphere. As the human dependence on the online environment increases, so do the intricacies of threats looming. The bad guys no longer have to plan a physical interaction to steal our personal, financial, or professional data. They can simply do it through a digital channel. Plus, with technology becoming more advanced than ever with the integration of AI, cybersecurity is no longer an option but a prerequisite if you want to continue your online activities while safeguarding your sensitive data.
Besides empowering local communities with a user-friendly blockchain infrastructure to access financial independence, Tórónet strives to provide unbeatable security so that your hard-earned digital currency does not fall prey to cyber-attacks. This blog will touch on the risks within cybersecurity and our bulletproof approach to tackling cybersecurity concerns so you can save on the opportunity cost of data breaches.
The average data breach cost $4.45 million in 2023. The Cost of Data Breach Report 2023 compiled by IBM reiterated this fact. Such a large amount is almost irrecoverable for the majority of organizations.
With such significant figures coming into play, it’s time for businesses and individuals to strengthen their cybersecurity practices. If that’s your goal, here’s your guide to bulletproof cybersecurity secrets to combat the foreboding threat of data breaches.
1. Protecting Your Data
With such a large amount of your valuable data available in the digital universe, it’s no surprise that it has become your most treasured currency. This piece of information brings data protection to the forefront of cybersecurity objectives.
In an era where cybersecurity threats are only becoming more efficient, data protection keeps your sensitive information safe while also ensuring that it stays accessible without losing its credibility.
Here are a few of the most noteworthy practices for data protection:
Encryption
Encryption is a process where data is converted into a code, also known as ciphertext. The best part is that only an authorized user can decrypt this encrypted information and access its details.
So, even if your hacker gets their hands on this data, they won’t be able to read it. In the same way that an empty purse has no value for a street robber, gibberish text too, has no importance for a cyberthief.
Access Controls
Storage systems is the name assigned to devices or servers where your data is stored. Here, you can install built-in access controls, which, as their name suggests, allow you to control who has access to those records.
Another feature of access controls is that they enable you to determine the circumstances under which an authorized party may be allowed to retrieve the data. This way, besides keeping unauthorized users at bay, these measures offer double protection of your material.
Creating Data Loss Prevention Policies
A company’s average time to recognize a data breach is 118 days. This makes data loss prevention policies (DLP) an integral element of data protection, focusing on information security. These policies are backed by DLP technologies and set rules and procedures for managing sensitive information. DLP technologies are equipped with monitoring and alert sensors that can recognize breaches in potential data, track user activity, and flag any suspicious behavior.
If a potential breach occurs, these technologies have remediation options as a backup. These include stopping data transfer to a third-party device, automatically revoking unrecognized access, and quarantining affected files.
Our approach: Tórónet is compliant with PCI DSS to protect our customers and their authentication data at each step of the transaction process. This highlights our security standards, such as access controls, regular penetration assessments, and a secure network infrastructure backed by firewalls or intrusion detection systems to keep cyberattacks away.
2. Beyond Prevention: Penetration Testing
Penetration testing involves conducting a planned simulated cyber attack as a test against your storage system to identify its vulnerabilities and understand how foolproof it is when it comes to resisting cyber threats.
A report by Kaspersky Lab revealed that 73% of accomplished breaches within the business sector resulted from vulnerable applications.
Penetration testing helps bring these weaknesses in your system to light so that their structure can be strengthened further.
This is done through 5 penetration testing methods, which include the following:
1. External Testing: External tests are targeted at a company’s assets that can be found on the internet, such as their web application, company website, email servers, and domain name servers (DNS). The goal is to evaluate the security of these external networks and systems.
2. Internal Testing: Here, the tester, who can be an employee of your organization, tests the security of your internal systems (firewalls) by simulating an attack as if it were a malicious attacker trying to gain access to sensitive data, attempting privilege escalation, or compromise the safety of your data.
3. Blind Testing: In a blind test, the tester only knows the company’s name or IP address. This is similar to how an attacker has no knowledge of the system’s infrastructure and must conduct in-depth research before launching the attack.
4. Double-blind Testing: This takes blind testing one step ahead. Neither the tester knows the company’s security approaches nor does the organization’s security team understand when the attack will occur or its specifics. This is the closest you can get to simulating an actual cyber attack.
5. Targeted Testing: In this scenario, the penetration team and in-house security personnel work together to test targeted areas of the security network. This gives them real-time feedback from the perspective of a hacker.
Another way to look at it is through a case study showcasing a penetrating test for a global oil and gas company, CISO. The test aimed to increase awareness of security threats, intrusion detection, and response measures.
This helped CISO fill gaps in their compliance standards and improve security practices. With 112,000 employees from all around the globe and a presence in over 140 countries, the pen test helped the company strengthen its efforts to secure employees’ and customers’ financial and personal data.
Our approach: Tórónet has partnered with Nexera to employ their impenetrable security measures, which include on-chain and off-chain identity verification tools like pre-KYC checks, KYC + AML screening, and KYT screening. These tools play a crucial role in enhancing the security of your Tórónet wallet, fortifying data privacy, and continuous monitoring so that any new suspicious activity can be dealt with immediately.
3. Staying Vigilant
Did you know that a cyberattack is predicted to occur every 39 seconds? This emphasizes the need to monitor your networks, applications, and systems continually.
Not only does this keep an organization’s entire network under 24-hour surveillance, but it also ensures that any suspicious activity, like unusual login attempts, malware, data exfiltration, etc., is detected and remediated promptly by the security team.
Plus, with the rise of cryptocurrency applications, their users are more connected than ever. Unfortunately, this has also paved a brand new way for security breaches. As cyber attackers become more acquainted with the vulnerabilities of the crypto world and NFTs, digital assets are expected to become a means of identity theft.
Therefore, understanding how customers log into the system and access data is paramount. Cybersecurity monitoring is like having an eye overlooking all the areas of your cloud and external perimeters. This also gives a clear picture of the zones that are most susceptible to attacks. This way, appropriate controls can be deployed in those areas to minimize the chances of data violations and have an edge against cyber threats.
At Tórónet, we have introduced a multi-role blockchain system. This means that no user can access our smart contract activities without permission. Understanding that most cyber threats begin from the point of access has allowed us to implement a controlled access policy to keep unauthorized or malicious smart contract deployments at bay.
Here are a few tips that can be implemented for effective cyber vigilance:
- Gain clear visibility over your system — Understanding your system means knowing what physical and digital assets are present within the network, where they’re stored, and which are more vulnerable to attacks. This brings the spotlight on risks that may otherwise be hidden and prioritizes proactive remediation for high-risk assets.
- Set robust strategies for patching cadence — Patching cadence is the time an institution takes to test and utilize a security update. Poor patching cadence leads to a 7x increase in ransomware risks. The faster a system’s vulnerabilities can be patched, the less likely it is to face a cyber attack.
- Leverage a vulnerability detection protocol — Physical monitoring of security systems is an excellent approach. But when it’s paired with automation, the result is an ironclad defense. Set real-time alerts that immediately trigger an alarm when risk vectors are identified so you can proactively take steps to mitigate them.
Our approach: Tórónet is a certified Money Service Business (MSB), owing to our employment of safety protocols like encryption, access controls, and secure data footage. These measures protect our clients’ financial transactions from cyberattacks. Moreover, MCBs are required to follow relevant customer identification procedures. This way, we can mitigate the occurrences of identity theft and cybercrimes.
Moreover, our governance structure, outlined by a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) and an Association, presents a roadmap for enhanced vigilance, management, and accountability. This way, we can avoid instances like mismanagement or misuse of resources, vulnerabilities in the platform, and security risks entirely.
Ransomware breaches alone have experienced a 13% increase in the past five years; this is only one segment of cyberattacks! This issue is notably concerning as more and more users around the globe are embracing blockchain technology and digital currencies.
This fact reiterates the importance of having a powerful cybersecurity strategy to fall back on so clients’ digital assets are safe and company operations run smoothly without third-party interruptions.
Safeguarding Data Security in a Decentralized Environment with Tórónet
While taking precautionary actions to protect data or testing the system to find loopholes that attackers can penetrate is integral, continuous monitoring of your network is equally important.
At Tórónet, we store your records on a decentralized system extending to various nodes. Furthermore, each node has to stake resources within the blockchain ecosystem.
This ensures that our customers’ digital assets are not confined to a single point of compromise and guards blockchain transactions, thereby maximizing their security against cyber hacks.
Given how increasingly easy it is for hackers to breach data security, it’s time to stay informed about cybersecurity threats and adopt corrective practices to keep data guarded at all times.
