[electronic music] ♪ ♪ person: We've all seen headlines like these. New worries for CEOs: A Career-Ending Cyberattack. Cost of a Retail Data Breach: $179 Million for Home Depot. Target to pay $18.5 million for 2013 data breach that affected 41 million customers. Cyberattacks are bigger than ever, and today, they can come from pretty much anywhere. Many groups, including those representing a government body, might use sophisticated methods to gain access to an organization's data. These attacks have become possible because we live online. This means that almost every organization is digitally connected to their customers, partners, and even their employees globally. Although there are many advantages to digitally connected global systems, these systemic and inherent complexities create new risks. Let me explain. Traditional on-premises systems or company-owned data centers generally rely on perimeter-based security approach,. That means the boundary around all of their data is protected by a firewall, for example, along with other security features. Once someone is inside that security perimeter, they're deemed trustworthy and therefore have access to everything. If you think of this in the same way you think about securing your house, all you have to worry about is the perimeter. Maybe you have a gate with a lock. As an added measure, you also secure all the doors and windows with locks and security keys or codes. Now imagine what would happen if you removed the roof, the doors, and the windows. Every object and person would be exposed. In this case, true security will have only be achieved when each object and person is individually protected. That's exactly where we are today. We're in the internet of things era where everything is connected through sensors that collect data. Your phone, your car, and even your credit card; everything is a node on a network. And when everything is a node, each node becomes an entry point. So what are the common cybersecurity threats in this case? The first threat is constant criminal attacks. This means that phishing attackers do research to gather information about you or anyone in your organization, for example, employees or students. They then craft highly-targeted emails to trick these people into thinking that the messages are genuine. Anyone in your organization can then be scammed into downloading malicious attachments, giving up their password, or sharing sensitive data. The second threat is physical damage. This means that organizations can still be responsible for data losses even when there is damage to the physical hardware, there are power losses, or natural disasters such as floods, fires, and earthquakes. The third threat is malware, viruses, and ransomware attacks. Data can be lost, damaged, or destroyed by viruses or malware. Alternatively, a set of files can be rendered unavailable to its intended users via ransomware until the ransom amount is paid. A fourth risk is unsecured third party systems. Although third party systems are often used to address common business needs like finance, inventory, or account management, without adequate security measures and regular checks, these systems can pose a threat to data security. And finally, another risk to organizations is lack of expert knowledge. At the rate that technology is changing, investing in the right expertise to assess, develop, implement, and maintain data security plans is essential for businesses to stay ahead of potential data security threats. Now, how do you defend against security threats that can come from anywhere at any time from anyone? A perimeter security model is not enough anymore. In fact, you'll soon discover that leveraging Cloud technology for your organization can dramatically strengthen your organization's ability to secure data against newer and more sophisticated threats. As data security becomes more complex, and the right expertise becomes more scarce, a collaborative approach with your Cloud provider is crucial to keeping your organization's data secure. Find out more in the next video.
