Cybersecurity Mesh: Why is it mportant?

Security and risk management leaders are in a pickle. Thanks to the rise in customer-facing interactions on digital channels and the sudden, pandemic-driven remote work movement, these professionals are experiencing widespread disruption, particularly in identity and access management (IAM) solutions. As IAM challenges become more complex, many organizations are falling short in terms of skills and resources to manage them effectively. That’s why cybersecurity mesh can be found alongside distributed cloud and AI engineering as one of Gartner’s top strategic technology trends for 2021.

What is Cybersecurity Mesh?

In the past decade, technology use has increased commendably, and now enterprises rely upon IoT devices, cloud technology, remote workers, the internet, and so on. An effective method, called Cybersecurity mesh technology, covers the safety of all. It involves using security practices wherever and whenever it’s needed (in the Cloud’s context). In simple words, this cloud security method focuses on creating a flexible security-oriented architecture that utilizes safety or risk-mitigation arrangements without causing any delay. Its scope could include distributed systems/components and much more.

Why Enterprises Need Cybersecurity Mesh

According to Fortune Business Insights, the global cybersecurity market is projected to grow to over USD 375 Billion by 2029. Enterprise resources are more and more likely to be located outside of an organization’s localized security perimeter, and growth trends indicate that businesses of all sizes need to be agile enough to expand rapidly at scale without compromising network security.

As organizations grow beyond a physical location, each node becomes a potential access point that can be exploited to compromise the whole network. Hackers increasingly use these vulnerable access points to deploy cyberattacks such as ransomware and other forms of malware. Losses due to such attacks are estimated to be around $6 trillion per year and rising.

Cybersecurity mesh is the most practical and adaptable approach for dealing with these threats in an enterprise-level organization. It extends security across your entire architecture, making it possible to secure all systems and points of access with a single, unified set of technologies. Further, because it is driven by the most recent threat intelligence, a cybersecurity mesh can evolve as new threats emerge.

In addition to security, enterprises need cybersecurity mesh to facilitate core business initiatives, including:

• Using third-party apps and services. Part of strengthening the core of an organization’s business is integrating third-party applications and services. In this way, the distributed nature of cybersecurity mesh allows companies to increase market share and engage consumers more rapidly while minimizing their security investments.
• Establishing new distribution channels. Third-party partnerships often lead to new channels for the distribution of products and services. Deploying individual security tools to protect the architecture needed to support new distribution channels can be costly and complicated. Using a cybersecurity mesh approach eliminates some of the cost and complexity.
• Launching new initiatives. Agile businesses may see opportunities to launch new initiatives that involve additions to their network infrastructure. This requires the kind of flexibility you get with a cybersecurity mesh.

Top 5 benefits

Integrated Security Services

Unlike standalone security solutions or software, cybersecurity mesh allows several protective services to integrate and communicate. This enables streamlined security management and creates a more robust protection network for your business.

More Flexibility

Following the pandemic, organizational flexibility and resiliency have become a priority for most businesses. Creating an integrated and agile security system enables your team to mitigate loss in the event of a disruption and gives you the flexibility to scale your requirements as needs change.

Increased Protection

Cybersecurity Mesh allows for analytic and security tools to collaborate, improving your organization’s defensive posture. This integration significantly enhances your ability to quickly respond to cyberattacks and reduces the risk of data and revenue loss in the event of a breach.

Rapid Deployment

One of the key benefits of Cybersecurity Mesh is that it enables teams to quickly deploy and easily maintain additional cybersecurity technologies. This reduces the need for businesses to invest in costly solutions that are only needed temporarily, allowing you to better allocate resources to business-critical operations.

Outsourced Security Management

As security systems become more complex, they become more difficult and time-consuming to manage. When you partner with a managed IT provider, they oversee your Cybersecurity Mesh deployment, troubleshooting, and management. This saves your team a significant amount of time and removes the need to hire in-house specialists to manage your security architecture.

How to Implement Cybersecurity Mesh

While Cybersecurity Mesh is a concept by Gartner, a few steps can secure an organization’s critical access points and help with building a more connected and meshed network of security infrastructure. These are:

• Interoperability should be one of the main priorities with selecting security solutions for your cybersecurity infrastructure. Invest in building an integrated framework of compatible security tools that can work together to provide a more synergetic effect.
• Selecting tools that work as part of a larger framework instead of an independent silo. Priority should be given to vendors with an open policy framework, enabling policy decisions to be made outside the tool.
• Utilize access control measures like multi-factor authentication and Zero Trust Network Access with a proper audit procedure for each access request. Controlling access to data can ensure only authorized users have access to assets while monitoring each request independently to assess any malicious activity.
• Select vendors with a good track record of updating to the latest security standards and are quick to embrace any new changes.
  Transitioning from traditional VPN services to reliable and secured zero-trust network access integrated with an access management tool.

Conclusion

The concept of cybersecurity mesh shall remain a fundamental trend in the coming years, and over and above it will offer several key security aspects that traditional cybersecurity practices do not. Understanding the importance of protecting sensitive data, as more and more enterprises start digitizing their assets, they start migrating to cloud computing environments. The cybersecurity mesh will offer enhanced, more flexible, and scalable protection beyond the existing physical boundaries to safeguard their investments in digital transformation.