Although the use of peripheral devices has risen to unparalleled rates in the post-pandemic period, many organizations have failed to increase their cybersecurity efforts to match this usage. Do you want your organization to avoid paying out a fortune due to improper cybersecurity practices? One way to achieve that is by staying on top of the rise of peripherals and defending against the deviants in devices. So, let’s cut to the chase instead of elucidating the basics of peripheral devices and their uses.
What do Peripheral Devices Bring to the Table?
Peripheral devices are here to stay despite the recent resurgence of the cloud. With a wider variety of work setups allowed, hybrid work has increased the use of external peripheral devices like mice, keyboards, and webcams. Although these devices unlock productivity, creativity, and communication, those tasked with protecting organizational security face an ever-increasing attack surface. It’s safe to surmise, nay conclude, that the digital era has its upper hand over the traditional industry, both physically and virtually.
A Double-Edged Sword?
There’s no denying the fact that external devices have a downside when trying to juggle both security and efficiency. Being a mere puppet, a peripheral device in well-meaning hands, could redefine an organization’s productivity but could be responsible for more catastrophic incidents in the wrong hands.
Hybrid work culture, particularly bring your own device (BYOD) policies, turned quite a few heads on how vital peripheral devices are to the organization (both from an economical and productive standpoint).
Defining which roles have what access—as well as separating corporate devices from personal devices—is a a taxing yet necessary task. Organizations that turn deaf ears to such basics often seek exorbitant remedies and demand humongous effort.
Where has it Gone Wrong with the device access?
It is fascinating how the adage “better safe than sorry” still holds up. Something as basic as regulating external device access in your organization is still overlooked, while a lot goes into investing in a dedicated research and analysis team to identify the root cause when a security breach stems from the said substandard device control approach.
Should Security be Driving Decisions Or Taking a Backseat?
Letting productivity take the wheel drives a business, but when security takes the backseat, an organization starts to crumble. Embracing creativity should not come at the cost of the security, an organization’s base. A balance must be struck.
Achieve Zero Trust to Mitigate the Risks from Peripheral Device
Organizations that maintain security and productivity in equilibrium tend to Side with the Zero Trust strategy. As a data protection strategy, Zero Trust advocates the following concept:
Never trust anyone, always verify!
What is at Stake here?
While this model sides with distrusting every interaction, the stakes in cybersecurity are always high. You can never be too careful! No organization is immune from external and insider threats. Zero Trust works on multiple levels; from authorizing users’ credibility when accessing the network to monitoring and logging the access data for audit purposes.
What does Zero Trust Offer?
This network security model simply never trusts anyone—or any device—automatically; you must become authorized for each access attempt, irrespective of your role/designation. With the validation making a strong case, Zero Trust takes it one step closer to data protection. The agenda of achieving data security and keeping cybersecurity intact via device control solution is succored by the Zero Trust model.
The Twofold Solution: Trusted Device List and Temporary Access
Zero Trust in device security can be achieved using ManageEngine Device Control Plus, a device control and file access management solution. Device Control Plus keeps an organization’s security on track with its double-barreled facets, namely the Trusted Devices list and Temporary Access settings.
Trusted Device – Crown your Device and Grant Immunity
Device Control Plus supports creating a Trusted Devices list, where all the peripheral devices to be exempted from restriction are enlisted. This list should be made short and kept exclusive, as the peripheral devices being accessed by highly authorized users should be given the edge. The chance of the rest of an organization’s peripheral devices making the final cut should be slim. This approach is backed by the fact that the need for external devices by the employee of upper echelons is prioritized more than that of the base-level employee.
Temporary Access – Gone are the Days to Sweat Over a Device’s Whodunit
Employees, subcontractors, and vendors often want or need to use a peripheral device to complete their everyday tasks. However, that should not stop your business from staying secure. Since it is hard to identify the intent of these devices, allowing them to have temporary access when required helps keep data security and device management efforts in harmony.
This approach is in stark contrast to the Trusted Device process. While the devices in the Trusted Device list have the freedom to roam around the network and access sensitive data, Temporary Access is restrictive in nature, where the device access comes with an expiration tagged to it. This window could be defined by the sysadmin, ranging from hours to days, weeks, or even months, based on the nature of the task the device is intended to perform.
It is a trying task to keep track of devices with admin rights and revoke them wherever those rights are granted unnecessarily. With Temporary Access, you don’t have to monitor the activities of all the machines and revoke admin rights for extra devices. By giving temporary access, you’ll rest easy knowing the rights are stripped off once the target time is met.
Zero Trust – A Perfect Blend
Adapting to Zero Trust when configuring your device control policy could be unrelenting. These efforts will make your organization’s security system pristine, making it worth the effort.
You can try ManageEngine Device Control Plus, a device control and file access management solution to achieve Zero Trust!
Source: https://cybersecuritynews.com/peripherals-deviant-devices-dismantle-your-cyber-defense/
