The Issue of Legacy Cybersecurity Technologies
May 05, 2021
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In 2021, the cybersecurity landscape is a far cry from what it was only even just a few years ago. This landscape itself, including the market penetration of cybersecurity companies and the development of technology and tools for the industry, is advancing quickly to be able to react to the onslaught of cybercrime. Awareness of the risks of cybersecurity failure in the industry is also a factor that has expanded greatly. Statistics show that in terms of the global cybersecurity technology growth rate (which refers to the internet security and defense sector in general) the forecasts for 2021 and beyond show that email and global web security technology are going to keep growing by at least 12%. Security (cyber) by all accounts is going to be a cornerstone for the digital world, a fact that is even more spotlighted now as we slowly approach 2022 and beyond. At the top of the list in terms of business security priority is cybersecurity strategy -or sometimes referred to as cyber preparedness plans. It is rather surprising that the largest gaps are also found in this exact area. This is why we need to look at and understand cybersecurity strategies for businesses and the dilemma surrounding legacy systems.
Cybersecurity strategies and plans include considering the application of MSSP, MDR, SOCaaS, SIEMs and other managed security approaches, as well as phasing out or modifying legacy systems. The former, which look like a group of perplexing tech-acronyms, are actually several interpretations of business cybersecurity strategy. It is a fact that corporate leaders are now aware of the importance of cybersecurity, as high-profile attacks have highlighted the vulnerabilities in a very apt manner, so it will be very important to scrutinize cybersecurity approaches in the industry at large.
In the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2021, the ‘global risks horizon’ graphs show that ‘cybersecurity’ failure under the ‘clear and present dangers’ tab is right up there with infectious diseases, livelihood crises and extreme weather events. This fact on its own is sufficient for everyone to understand that cybersecurity is going to be very important in our lives. What are the areas that need to be addressed to reduce cybersecurity incidents in businesses, and globally? There are several areas to address, and one of them is the dangers of using legacy technology. Business cybersecurity strategies have some unbelievable gaps in cyber preparation when it comes to this factor. First of all, let’s start by defining legacy, followed by getting into the problems associated with this, concluding with suggested cybersecurity solutions.
What Does The Term Legacy Systems Refer to?
When it comes to cybersecurity, the term legacy (or heritage) belongs to a part of business risk management. Legacy refers to the issue of outdated systems, software, code or networks. A system may be referred to as ‘legacy’ when e.g hardware has reached a certain limit, or software is no longer able to be updated and/or is no longer compatible with the rest of the system. Outdated business practices and policy may also render a system as ‘legacy’. Dealing with legacy systems is always a balancing act for the industry, as their continued presence in many companies presents challenges around user needs, technology, legal liabilities and business strategies. Those responsible for dealing with legacy systems are usually IT staff, however lawyers also play a key role because of the risk management angle involved. Let’s also define a few cybersecurity solutions terms below, which are managed security services, before we get into what to do about legacy.
MSSP
A Managed Security Service Provider is a 24/7 outsourced service designed to monitor and manage security devices and systems (firewalls, virtual private networks, intrusion detection), which facilitates the reduction of the need for cybersecurity personnel. MSSP is an older, classic model of managed security
MDR
A Managed Detection and Response service is similar to MSSP, also offers 24/7 cybersecurity protection but is different from MSSP in that the immediate response and threat filtration is superior. Furthermore, MDR services provide more research, data and analysis at the endpoint level. An MDR is the evolution of an MSSP
SOCaaS
A Security as a Service is similar to an MDR service, only in that it is a 24/7 Security Operations Center where work is relegated to teams (SOC) employing SIEM platforms and tools. It is also known as a managed SIEM
SIEM
A Security Information and Event Management solution is software that combines Security Information Management (SIM) and Security Event Management (SEM). It is different from, say an MDR service, in that it does not actively investigate risks and threats. Rather, a SIEM is there to collect and analyze logs
How to Be Proactive About Legacy Cybersecurity Today
The cybersecurity solution/vendor types above only cover a few of the many available solutions today (there are more such as SIEMaas, Co-Managed SIEM/SOC etc). In essence, all of these solutions are trying to accomplish the same thing; to most effectively manage and protect a business’ information security. Businesses need to choose amongst the cybersecurity solutions services that suit their business structure in order to be proactive about cybersecurity. A business/organization/institution whether in the private or public sector must ensure that conducting due diligence on legacy infrastructure is covered in the cybersecurity strategy. The issue with ‘legacy systems’ is that they suffer from technological limits as well as create cost issues due to maintenance costs and yet a large portion of the industry still uses them. Here are the pros and cons surrounding legacy systems;
Pros
The benefits of keeping a legacy system in the business infrastructure
- It is easier to maintain the existing client data
- Tried-and-tested reliability, the organization’s familiarity with it
- Removing a legacy system requires a ‘legacy’ engineer, so it is easier not to touch it
- They are still essential to most organizations and phasing them out means interruption
Cons
Reasons to phase out legacy systems
- The industry’s transition to new technologies stresses legacy systems
- More vulnerabilities from the cybersecurity side due to outdated architectures
- The business is attached to the legacy system limiting flexibility and modification
- The question of how long the system will keep being supported by the vendor
- Due to less familiarity with legacy systems maintenance costs go up
- Legacy systems will stifle innovation and speed in general
The greatest threat to keeping legacy systems operational in a business is the threat of cybercrime. Cybercriminals will have a much easier time breaking into old architectures that have known vulnerabilities. Statistics estimate that over 70% of threats today take place via endpoint vulnerabilities (a lot of which result from legacy infrastructure), while organizations still continue to spend billions on legacy investments. With the amount of remote workers online today and with the digital transformation to a remote, cloud-based, 5G IoT internet landscape, it is critical to look at good cybersecurity solutions and strategies that will mesh well with business models. Using strict, layered cyber preparedness plans will alleviate a lot of the risk of breaches as well as negligence-related errors (not to mention the policy approach). In this instance, this is why it is critical to ultimately completely remove (or at the very least modify) existing legacy systems/infrastructures and tools that cannot keep up with today’s threats. New technologies will provide more agility and ultimately innovation to the industry while keeping up with policy, encryption and monitoring policies that legacy systems struggle with. Ultimately, a good cybersecurity strategy will include a tailored managed security solution that will aim to mitigate legacy system architecture vulnerabilities.
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