By Laurence Pitt, Global Security Strategy Director at Juniper Networks

Adopting a Security First Mindset

In 2020, it will be more important than ever to adopt a security first mindset. As cybercriminals become smarter, more malicious and the race to 5G gains even more momentum, the best way to prepare for known and unknown threats is to take a close look at your security posture to ensure it's strong and robust. Because security is becoming an increasingly necessary consideration in all aspects of life and business, it would be wise to reevaluate strategies in the coming year and beyond.

The race to 5G will continue to ramp up and prompt security teams to reevaluate their internal security posture

5G is going to mean that everything about the network moves closer to the edge. The improvements in speed and reductions in latency will allow much greater flexibility for deployment of applications and data. Over the coming years, security teams will need to review their security policies and processes in order to keep up and account for moving security closer to the edge of the network. Without quick detection and containment, by the time a threat is detected in a 5G network it will have had time to traverse key areas with the potential for causing significant damage (or hiding and waiting). Organizations will need to look at how they can leverage both security and non-security devices as part of their security posture, making use of data from both to strengthen posture and speed detection and response.

Phishing attacks will become smarter and harder to detect

Cyber criminals can use publicly available information scattered across the internet to build a simple picture of someone - political beliefs, interests, pets, job, family - in order to execute a more effective attack. The internet has vast amounts of data on who we are, and it's often in public view. On Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and other platforms, we're sharing information, engaging and commenting about our personal and professional lives.

In 2020, people should expect much more of this at a much smarter level. We will see more phishing emails using publicly available personal data in order to directly address who you are - making sure to keep it relevant while making it even harder to spot the difference between a phish and a genuine email. My advice is to stop clicking on email links. If you receive an email from your bank, an online retailer or a provider, make your first port of call their official website. Then, login and attempt to validate that the email is genuine. Additionally, use a password manager because most will not input passwords to fake sites when the website address is not recognized. This has saved me on a couple of occasions - and I consider myself to have a level of expertise!

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About the Author 

Laurence Pitt is Global Security Strategy Director at Juniper Networks. He has more than twenty years of cybersecurity experience, having started out in systems design and moved through product management in areas from endpoint security to managed networks. In his role at Juniper, he articulates security clearly to business and across the business, creating and having conversations to provoke careful thought about process, policy and solutions. Security throughout the network is a key area where Juniper can help as business moves to the cloud and undertakes the challenge of digital transformation.