The operating environment for organisations of all sizes has changed as a result of technology trends such as cloud computing, big data analytics, and the Internet of Things. Consequently, the security landscape has also undergone significant change in the last few years, as most companies around the world have adopted some form of mobility and cloud services into their IT environment.
Those who have not, have not only fallen behind in terms of productivity and access to customers, partners, suppliers and staff on virtually any platform at any time, but will also discover that in all likelihood, their employees have already exposed them to services like those by bringing their own devices to work.
In doing so, employees have changed how they interact with their devices, apps, and your corporate data. While they have become more productive, they’ve also created new security gaps for IT to handle. As the number of cyber-security attacks and data breaches increase worldwide, these issues only become more pronounced.
New security threats require a new response paradigm
Traditional security solutions used to be enough to protect your business, but that was before the attack landscape grew more sophisticated and the transition to mobility and the cloud made employees’ interactions with other users, devices, apps, and data more complex. To truly protect your business now, you need to take a more holistic and innovative approach to security, one that can protect, detect, and respond to threats of all kinds, from on-premises equipment as well those based in the cloud.
Microsoft Identity-Driven Security addresses the security challenges of today and tomorrow across users, devices, apps, data, and platforms. Each of your employees receives a single protected common identity for secure, risk-based conditional access to thousands of apps, both on-premises and in the cloud.
Innovative technologies safeguard your network at the front door, while IT pros gain deep visibility into apps, devices, and data activity, enabling them to easily and quickly uncover suspicious activities, user mistakes, and potential threats before they become real ones.
And with behavioural analytics, machine learning, and unique Microsoft security intelligence, you can secure your corporate files and data while empowering your employees to get their work done on the go.
The transition to mobility and the cloud has further complicated the threat landscape, creating new challenges and headaches for IT pros to contend with and creating the need for identity-driven security. This approach is not just a holistic one, but will also perfectly complement your company’s larger IT strategy.
Anthony Doherty is the Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft South Africa
