CenturyLink was a Premier sponsor at this year’s Gartner Security Summit. The event helps senior IT and business executives who want to bolster cyber defenses and understand new threats and challenges across the cybersecurity threatscape.

It was clear from the conversations at the event that the journey to stronger cybersecurity is still top of mind. C-level executives are concerned their journey is not happening fast enough and if they don’t pick up the pace their data, their customers’ data and their networks will be vulnerable.

Here are a few of our key observations from the summit:

Threat intelligence

It’s hard to protect against unseen threats. As cybercrime continues to grow as a profitable shadow industry, actionable Threat Intelligence has never been more important.  To defend themselves, businesses need threat intelligence with the scope, the depth and the relevance for enterprises to take the necessary steps to protect themselves now and in the future.

As shown in the CenturyLink 2018 Threat Report, to stay ahead of the bad guys businesses need to understand the entirety of the threat landscape as it applies to their network. At the same time, threat intelligence without the appropriate filters can easily result in a flood of information leading to analysis paralysis.

Identifying botnets

The past 18 months has seen a jump in attacks utilizing botnets — a group of individual compromised hosts, or bots, often controlled by a single command and control system, also known as a C2. A bot can be a compromised server, computer or any IoT device such as a DVR, security camera, cell phone and so on.

Bad actors are motivated, organized and adaptable. Thankfully, so are the good guys — and in greater numbers. For example, CenturyLink Threat Research Labs actively identifies dozens of new C2s monthly and works with the upstream service providers to disable their services. If they are unable or unwilling to take action, then CenturyLink steps in and takes measures to protect our network and our customers — nearly 40 C2s per month receive this enhanced treatment.

Analytics and Threat Management

There’s tremendous value in Adaptive Threat Intelligence for the enterprise. Today’s top offerings include map visualization tools and provide customers a functional view of threats specific to their organizations, making it easier to quickly identify threats.

Adaptive Threat Intelligence includes enhancements such as the ability to identify traffic originating from anonymous proxy networks, as well as improved threat scoring, fidelity and classifications for web hosting and CDN providers associated with potentially malicious IP addresses. These features provide enterprises with actionable insight to bolster their cyber defense.  (Learn about the importance of security log monitoring with trending and threat analysis from CenturyLink.)

Network-based Security

Enterprises are finding it increasingly difficult and costly to protect their network perimeter as motivated intruders discover new ways to get around defenses. As a result, trusted and experienced service providers are helping businesses stay ahead of threats. From DDoS mitigation to network-based security, service providers are playing an ever larger role in protecting enterprise networks and infrastructure.

The result is that businesses are beginning to spend smarter on cybersecurity. Experienced service providers are helping to lower cybersecurity risks, improve compliance and protect critical business assets with flexible IT security solutions that maximize budget.

Strengthen your cybersecurity today

Are you ready to lower your cybersecurity risks, improve compliance and protect your critical business assets with flexible IT security solutions that maximize your budget? CenturyLink is a leader in cybersecurity threat intelligence, analysis and defense. We monitor 1.3 billion security events every day and can help you strengthen and protect your enterprise. For more information, contact a CenturyLink cybersecurity expert today.

For additional security resources, check out these blogs on ThinkGig and Netformation:

• CenturyLink 2018 Threat Report: Meet Cybersecurity’s Heroes and Villains
• Dodging a Dark Web Feeding Frenzy
• A New Kind of Insanity: The Risk of Diminishing Returns in Cybersecurity

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