Addressing the Cybersecurity Threats in Plain Sight
Having increased by 12.4% yet again in 2021, the annual spending on network security solutions is maintaining its pace toward the long-projected total of $170 billion by the time the next decade begins. If it were a race, the pursuit of network security solutions would be Daytona or Talladega, running flat out, yet always turning in the same direction. Virtually all the major spending goes to software or programs that respond to a cyberattack after it is already detected. Very little, by comparison, is yet devoted to the sector of network security solutions that prevent those incursions in the first place.
The physical devices that block vulnerable USB ports and data connectors – protecting them from being used by unauthorized persons – represent the obvious preventative element of network security solutions. These devices are readily available, and the true leaders in responsible cybersecurity are deploying them. Yet, strangely, such devices are among the rarest of answers you’ll find in use. It’s as if enterprises, industries, agencies, and authorities of all kinds had installed the most exotic home security measures – motion sensors, front-door cameras, mobile observation devices, and remote controls – and had left the front door wide open.
The Preferred Avenue of Attack
The fact that physical network security solutions are still relatively rare is even more difficult to comprehend when we consider this: The most recent, the most notorious, and the most impactful cyberattacks in history have been launched using innocent-looking USB thumb drives. The Stuxnet computer worm that was used to sabotage the Iran nuclear development program – said to have succeeded in setting back the program by at least a decade – was introduced to the program’s vital data systems from unidentified thumb drives sprinkled in nearby parking lots.
That’s not all. In April 2019, the vacation home of President Trump was entered by an apparent foreign agent who carried four cell phones, a laptop, an external hard drive – and a USB thumb drive containing malicious malware. The exotic image of maladjusted savants in distant basements, formulating complex attacks through cyberspace may represent a portion of the threat; certainly, there is more than one office building in more than one hostile state where social media activists pepper the Internet with misinformation. But the real threats to the information systems and data networks that make enterprise, public service, commerce, and finance possible today often come from a humble thumb drive.
Trends in Network Security Solutions
A study and forecast of cybersecurity trends projects that managing mobile devices will rank high on the list of concerns requiring network security solutions, second only to data privacy issues themselves.
The “Internet of Things” (IoT) includes the rapidly proliferating world of mobile devices, most of them unmanaged, that enter the workplace every day, along with employees and associates. Even without malicious intent, the hazard these devices represent to vital data networks and information systems is so great that it may outweigh the risk of hostile attack, at least in terms of the frequency and instances of exposure.
A personal cell phone connected to a USB port, whether to sync contacts or simply to recharge, carries with it the potential for contamination from every conceivable virus. Even without hostile intent, the threat of contamination comes in the doors every day, and the willingness of even the best-indoctrinated, most trusted associates to connect unmanaged devices to your vital systems has been proven by both research and practical experience. Network security solutions are not complete until and unless they include preventions of this type of damage from “friendly fire.”
Whether from malicious attack or from inadvertent contamination, you can count on The Connectivity Center for the network security solutions that complete your cybersecurity perimeter. Our mission is to guard the physical points of entry that that turn PCs into vital information systems – the ports and connectors where the most damaging and historically impactful cyber-attacks were perpetrated. Our Smart Keeper collection of computer and laptop network security solutions protect the vital data network connections that empower your information systems and still permit the controlled access that moves your enterprise forward day after day.
Our Link Lock connectors and the Link Lock Hub secure your USB ports and network connections and also lock your devices so that they cannot be removed without authorized access. You’ll find network security solutions by the hundreds from The Connectivity Center, including a variety of locking 4K high-speed cables. For unlocking them, we offer two kinds of keys, the Enterprise and Professional series of the Smart Keeper USB Port Lock Key.
With the Professional Series key, you get an ergonomic, retractable housing with anti-static rubber grip, LED light for low visibility work areas, and dual-retractors – main and peripheral – for access to any angle of installation. This provides effective control to reach port locks in confined spaces. Key patterns are strictly controlled, yet you can order duplicate keys to suit your own security authorization structure designed within your network security solutions.
Enterprises of every kind depend on the flow of data, uncontaminated and with controlled access. The importance of this flow extends to the systems of power generation, energy distribution, water purification and supply, transportation – all the operations that support the lives we live today. Network security solutions that protect this vital flow is what we provide at The Connectivity Center, from our unique perspective and experience.
