Traditional IT security methods are increasingly flawed and the volume and sophistication of threats continue to increase. According to NETSCOUT, one DDoS attack occurs every three seconds, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency recently added 66 new vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog, with new common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) growing over 25% year-over-year in 2022. New security methods delivered at the edge of the network, closer to the customer, are emerging as a more effective method for combating the increase in security threats.
Latest cybersecurity threats expose flaws in traditional security methods
Let’s consider two methods of security for customer data: firewalls and cloud storage. Firewalls are not well suited to protect against modern threats. They’re meant to protect IT infrastructure, servers, and databases. However, when companies only use this security method it’s like leaving the doors and windows of your home open, without motion detectors, alarms, or other safeguards.
Cloud-based storage, while protecting data from local (user-level) loss or destruction, is increasingly attractive to nefarious third parties. According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report, 45% of data breaches occurred in the cloud. Think about your data center firewall as a safe inside your home, where highly sensitive data is kept. It’s a singular line of defense that, if broken, can be extremely costly. In fact, the average data breach costs $4.3M. If network downtime is involved, it can cost you $9,000 per minute.
The value of edge security
Edge security encompasses a large area that includes more sophisticated barriers, like the gate to your community and alarms on your windows. If a threat is detected, you’re alerted in real-time and can deploy rules instantly at scale with higher accuracy. Edge security products are also more advanced, leveraging AI and other tools to react intelligently to threats.
For example, edge security products are designed to identify and mitigate various types of attacks that target customer-specific systems and data, such as robust botnet attacks, zero-day threats, credential stuffing, CVEs, or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. It’s even possible to identify bots that attempt to mimic human interactions by leveraging AI/ML and traffic behavioral modeling. This level of security cannot be found outside the edge.
Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), India’s leading stock exchange, implemented edge security and now detects threats in real-time, deploys security rules in under 60 seconds and has cut infrastructure costs by more than 50%.
Users have come to expect data privacy everywhere they go. If their trust is lost, consider it a breakup. According to PCI Pal, 83% of consumers will stop spending with an organization immediately after a security breach–and over 21% of those consumers will never return. Edge security products add an additional layer of security, even on top of your cached content, and provide another layer of proven security for third-party SaaS/PaaS partners you depend on.
Improve SecOps productivity by adding security at the edge
Integrating security operations into the edge also makes it possible to implement safe updates across global domains in minutes. Mature edge products allow you to A/B test or perform virtual patches for all changes by previewing modifications in an audit mode so the impact of the change can be understood before it is applied. Instead of deploying a change and then identifying an error, you can quickly validate or iterate until you see the desired impact, reducing overhead. This is especially important for zero-day exploits where you need to react quickly without jeopardizing business operations.
Take action
Security attacks are increasing in frequency and could happen to your organization at any time–don’t wait to take action. Consider solutions that incorporate a variety of edge security components. First, protect your physical network using PCI DSS end-to-end encryption. You should also protect your data against Origin attacks using DDoS protection, Origin shield, and DNS Management. Finally, protect your applications with WAAP, Bot Management, and Layer 7 DDoS protection that also shields your APIs.
Edgio, a leader in edge security, will examine your specific environment and tune our solution to meet your needs. Edgio manages all layers of traffic protection using access control, API security, rate limiters, advanced bot management, custom rules, and managed rules to ensure your security operations team can not only quickly react but also proactively take action against security threats. Learn more about Edgio.
