It’s proving to be quite a prosperous year for cyber criminals — and an especially trying one for their victims. At this year’s midpoint, the number of data comprises recorded by the Identify Theft Resource Center was on pace to exceed last year’s record total by 14%. Those breaches impacted more than one billion people along the way, a startling 490% increase over the first half of 2023.
As widespread as the cyber-carnage has been thus far in 2024, we asked Art Nichols, chief technology officer at digital communications company Windstream Enterprise, to update us on the current state of the threat landscape, and the new wave of cybersecurity strategies that organizations are employing to protect themselves, their customers and their data. Windstream is part of that wave, having launched North America’s first comprehensive managed Security Service Edge (SSE) solution in early 2023.
TechNational: First touch on what’s at stake for businesses when it comes to the threat of cyberattack.
Art Nichols: To say we’re dealing with an escalating cybersecurity crisis is an understatement. The average cost of a data breach approaches $4.5 million. New attack strategies are an ever-moving target. Hackers are using AI to engineer breaches, making them tougher than ever to prevent, detect and act upon. The reality is, no business should consider itself fully protected unless they’re employing multiple layers of defense.
TN: How can organizations get this kind of multilayered protection around their network and their data? What are some of the proven, practical solutions they can implement relatively easily and cost-effectively?
AN: Thankfully, yes, businesses now can access solutions that are as sophisticated, persistent and adaptable as the would-be attackers they’re trying to thwart. SSE is one such solution. It converges various advanced security measures — Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA), Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASBs), Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and more — into a single cloud-based software stack that secures all endpoints, users and applications on an enterprise’s existing network configuration against phishing, malware, ransomware, data theft and other threats.
Ultimately, it’s a network-agnostic, enterprise-level security strategy that provides maximum protection around users, devices, applications and data across any device or location. As such, it’s great for protecting the hybrid work environments that so many organizations have nowadays.
TN: Besides the obvious security benefits, what other factors make SSE appealing to businesses?
AN: To understand the extent of SSE’s appeal, consider Gartner’s projection that by 2025, 80% of enterprises will adopt a strategy to unify web, cloud services and private application access from a single vendor’s SSE platform.
As to why SSE holds such appeal, I’ll point to things like reduced cost and complexity. SSE eliminates the cost and hassle associated with point solutions and appliances, while also enabling organizations to avoid the cost of premium cloud connectivity solutions.
As a managed service, SSE also gives an organization what amounts to an extension of its own IT team — an expert to monitor, manage and troubleshoot its entire cybersecurity system.
What’s more, SSE positions an organization to eventually move to Secure Access Service Edge(SASE), today’s gold standard among cybersecurity solutions.
TN: How heavy of a lift is it for a business to shift to SSE from a legacy security system?
AN: One of the beauties of SSE is it’s easy to implement — often in a matter of days, without disrupting network operations, and without extra hardware. As a single-vendor managed solution, SSE relieves organizations from having to integrate, configure, implement, monitor and manage multiple layers of security themselves, so they can focus on what really matters: serving their customers, keeping their employees engaged and productive, and growing their business.
Art Nichols is Chief Technology Officer at Windstream Enterprise, where he’s responsible for network evolution, hardware and software certification, and technical product development for all business units within the company. He is an experienced technologist with a demonstrated history of executive leadership in the telecom industry, and has been instrumental in developing numerous products. Prior to joining Windstream 15 years ago, he spent eight years with NuVox, a cloud computing and storage solutions telecommunications company. https://www.windstreamenterprise.com/
