Bolstering Security Standards: How A Consolidated IT Infrastructure Can Arm Businesses Against Cyber-Criminals

When companies think of security, they often only think of passwords, encryption, and hacking. With the transition to flexible, hybrid, or fully remote work, there are many new aspects that come up in the security equation and, most importantly, must meet corporate standards. As not all users are tech-savvy, software must be user-friendly with intuitive interfaces. 

Establishing user-friendly AND secure connections

Commonly in the areas of communication and support, we understand messaging and video chat services, as they reflect the various forms of social media that we have grown familiar with. Consumer-oriented usability ultimately saves time and money, especially for unified communication and collaboration (UCC) tools or remote support applications: users can communicate flawlessly and remotely with their colleagues and customers. However, these platforms must be secure to ensure that all communication data remains private and safe.

UCC and support are paramount for flexible working. However, locally installed systems are costly and require extensive resources to maintain and keep secure. Cloud-based solutions enable seamless operation, as infrastructure and expertise can be outsourced to the provider. However, it also makes it easier to switch providers if users are not satisfied. A high degree of user-friendliness is, therefore, an important but often underestimated criteria.

Furthermore, security and data protection requirements can increase the complexity of cloud applications, such as various security measures designed to protect access to apps and files. Here, the IT department must find compromises to maintain the security standards of the company, while also providing employees with the tools to limit the disruption of these security protocols.

When finding UCC support solutions, companies must ensure that they adhere to the following criteria to ensure their data privacy and security standards against potential threats:

1. One consolidated solution

A unified security structure is provided by all-in-one solutions for Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) and remote support. This allows employees to make calls, hold meetings, send messages, and process support requests on a single platform where they can easily switch between different channels within one application.

The IT team would also use a single management portal to collectively manage settings made in different applications. By consolidating one vendor, companies can benefit from a high level of connectivity and reliability. All-in-one solutions typically offer a wide range of integration options with existing CRM applications as well as collaboration tools like Slack.

2. Implementing security controls

The protection of comms, support infrastructures, and its data, requires the use of industry-standard security controls. Using logical access control or a perimeter protection tool, administrators reduce the risk of unauthorised application access or unauthorised network traffic. Cloud solutions such as UCaaS or CCaaS also benefit from data being stored centrally so that IT managers can create backups automatically. 

In addition to malware protection and end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for written and verbal communications, it is also important to have comprehensive vulnerability management and monthly network scans. In this way, administrators always have an eye on the remote work solution. Via logs, they are immediately informed in the event of suspicious cases and can quickly counteract any misuse of data. The functions work largely in the background and only have a minor impact on the use of the communications software, offering high level security and data protection.

3. A dedicated security team

A mature business continuity plan ensures that all teams are fully functional even when working remotely. Since the beginning of the pandemic, it has proven useful to increase network capacity as well as the ability to move traffic. In this way, IT can avoid what is known as a single point of failure. Monitoring all cloud services around the clock helps to meet or even exceed a company’s data protection and security standards.

Whether malware, phishing attacks, fake websites, spammers, or scammers: the increase in remote work during the pandemic has caused the number of cyber-attacks to skyrocket in many industries. In a survey conducted by the BSI, 26 percent of companies that were exposed to cyber-attacks described the damage they suffered as “threatening to their existence” or “very severe.” In 2021, the UK lost a total of £2.6bn in fraud and cyber-crime cases.

Businesses must now adopt risk-based authentication solutions to combat this stark increase in cyber criminality. Platforms that detect suspicious behaviour in user profiles, even when logging in remotely from a non-authorised device, can prevent hacker access while adding an extra layer of security. Meanwhile, employees are left to benefit from user-friendly, simple login processes via single sign-on to quickly access data and virtual meetings.