Cybersecurity: Don’t Put All Your Valuables in One Pocket

By the DynaSis Team

With bad news about cybersecurity hitting the media nearly daily (including recent attacks on healthcare organizations), it’s hard for a business owner to know what to do. It’s also easy to think, “Let’s focus on securing what we have and not add anything else to the mix.” Certainly, securing corporate assets (along with training the employees not to expose them) is a sound idea. However, refusing to explore new ideas and technologies out of concern for security isn’t the safest strategy.

One approach that has proven security value is virtualization. With virtualization, a company’s files and other digital assets are distributed by designated criteria and stored, not all together on one physical or cloud server, but rather on multiple “virtual” servers. These are discrete partitions, each of which can have its own level of security, access control and other protections, yet all can reside on a single on-premise or cloud resource. Assets can be separated by user, with each department or employee having its own virtual resource; by security need, with public, private and sensitive/proprietary files each on different virtual servers; or by any other criteria.

It may be a bit confusing to imagine how a group of files on a single server can be separated so completely, so here’s an analogy. Consider an overcoat with one or more hidden pockets. The wearer can put his wallet and all other valuables into one hidden pocket, but if a thief finds the pocket, everything will be gone. He or she could also divide those valuables among several hidden pockets, reducing the chances of the thief finding all of them—and increasing the time it takes. One or more pocket could be secured with multiple defenses, making those valuables the safest, of all.

Expanding this example, imagine now that owner is carrying candy for his or her small children and a present for the spouse. He or she puts the candy in a hidden pocket at the waist, but puts the presents in a zippered breast pocket. Upon arriving home, the children can find the candy quickly, because they can reach—and know how to open—the right pockets. However, they won’t be able to reach or see the hidden present intended for someone else.

That’s exactly how virtualization works. It isolates data in the manner that the corporate decision maker desires, making it more difficult not only for outsiders to find it, but also for the firm’s own “children”—employees—to discover files they are not supposed to see or access. Virtualization also makes is easier and less expensive to secure mission critical resources, since the most aggressive security efforts can focus on a single “pocket” rather than the entire coat.

Virtualization used to be considered one of the more advanced IT solutions, but that is no longer the case. Managed services firms routinely orchestrate virtualization for their customers. However, the best, most experienced managed IT services companies proactively work with organizations to ensure virtualization solutions optimize security and productivity while minimizing cost and complexity.

Selection of an IT outsourcing company is a very important business decision. For almost a quarter century, Atlanta’s small to mid-sized businesses have relied on DynaSis’ for managed IT services, internet security, and 24 x 7 x 365 helpdesk support. Today, with cybercrime becoming an ever-increasing threat, DynaSis has become an industry leader in network protection and ransomware prevention. Please take a tour through our website at www.DynaSis.com or speak with a technical expert at 678.218.1769.