Check Point: Top 7 security issues impacting NZ businesses in 2015

While last year, IT security was all about the ‘breach” with one attack after another, when it comes to the New Zealand market, 2015 will be a case of more of the same.

While last year, IT security was all about the ‘breach” with one attack after another, in 2015 security vendor Check Point believes when it comes to the New Zealand market, it will be a case of more of the same.

Along with the Australian industry, New Zealand organisations will see the continuation of a raft of security dilemmas from zero day malware and open source to the need to safeguard SDN, mobile users and IP appliances.

“While IT professionals won’t see an end to security threats it’s also important to remember that every organisation, large and small, can find the right tools and expertise to stay safe,” says Kurt Hansen, managing director, Check Point Software Technologies, Australia and New Zealand.

Launching its list of the leading IT security threats and trends which New Zealand business can expect to see in 2015, Hansen’s run-down is as follows…

Safeguarding SDN

It’s true that SDN can boost security - namely by routing traffic through a gateway and IPS, thereby reprogramming and restructuring a network suffering a DDoS attack.

But according to Hansen it can also automatically quarantine any infected endpoints or networks.

“Security must be designed into the SDN concept,” Hansen says, “and because SDN is being increasingly adopted in data centres, you can expect to see targeted attacks that try to exploit SDN controllers to bypass network defences.”

Blocking Zero Day Malware

The new face of malware is fast and stealthy, Hansen explains.

Over a third of organisations downloaded at least one file infected with unknown malware last year, thanks to obfuscation tools that help attacks slip past even sophisticated solutions.

“73 percent had existing bot infections, with 77 percent infections active for more than four weeks,” he explains, “a disturbing length of time given that the average bot attempts to communicate with its Command and Control centre is every three minutes.”

Open source, open target

“Open source vulnerabilities like Heartbleed and Poodle affected nearly every IT operation in the world,” Hansen adds.

“While organisations may not be able to anticipate the next massive vulnerability, they should understand that flaws in open-source and commonly used platforms offer hackers rich opportunities.”

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