There was a time when information security mostly involved firewalls, antivirus software, and applying relevant updates to the operating system and crucial applications. In the history of enterprise computing, the last time business owners could get away with such a security platform was before 2005, which is when the world started shifting from the old client/server architecture model to cloud computing.
Cybercrime has expanded parallel to cloud computing. The attack surface, which is the term used to describe all the devices and networks that hackers can target, has extended to cover the entire world. In the past, you may not have thought much about IT security in Pinellas County, but the reality of today’s cybercrime landscape is that anyone can be hacked at anytime.
To get an idea of how prevalent cyber attacks are these days, consider the municipal data network operated by the City of Dunedin, which has been hacked twice in the last three years. In both instances, some city services such as utility billing and online payments were out of service for a day or two, and officials reported that the damage had been mitigate thanks to the strategy they have in place for IT security in Pinellas County.
The fact that the City of Dunedin was able to bounce back from major cyber attacks is a testament to the effectiveness of their IT security program. The proper way to address cybersecurity these days is to assume you will be hacked; instead of focusing on prevention, you should think about being ready to recover from a devastating cyber attack through techniques such as secured data backups, remote hosting, and network redundancy.
