F E A T U R E

Camellia Chan , CEO and Co-founder of Flexxon

Hardware-based solutions fortify the foundations of software defences

Data centres must now also invest in independent , hardware-based security to ensure an additional layer of protection , combined with backup and recovery processes that can minimise fallout from data loss .

inevitably fail when tasked with protecting against the evolving threat landscape .

Cybersecurity strategies today must offer the whole package , providing a holistic approach from incident detection to response and recovery . Such a strategy considers all possibilities that can result in cybercriminals gaining access to data and networks , with initiatives including cybersecurity across both software and hardware , employee education and internal and external intelligence sharing .

Software defences don ’ t deliver expected protection

Data centres are a goldmine for cybercriminals and when combined with the costs incurred due to downtime following an attack , the average cost of a data breach is £ 4.45 million . So , it ’ s clear cybersecurity strategies need to be ironclad to protect data and ensure business continuity . However , software-based cybersecurity solutions traditionally deployed in data centres can have significant vulnerabilities . Not only do they often rely on human intervention , for example , for configuration and updating , but in a landscape that continues to change rapidly , software solutions can have insufficient response capabilities to attacks they aren ’ t set up to deal with .

Additionally , software-based tools are at risk of being weaponised by cybercriminals . And , if software solutions are integrated into the system they are trying to protect like a double agent , this can have devasting consequences . Hackers can exploit vulnerabilities in software to gain unauthorised access to systems and wreak havoc .

Unlike software tools that monitor specific layers of the OSI model , or only in the external environment , there are now hardware solutions that can canvas all seven layers independently – removing the risk of manipulation . This is achieved through monitoring memory and data transfer communications , instead of fishing for potential behavioural anomalies in the vast ocean of external network layers .

Unlike some software-based cybersecurity tools , hardware-based solutions are isolated from the systems they protect , meaning they are less susceptible to certain attacks and can ’ t be weaponised by hackers .

Such hardware-based solutions are also further optimised with AI . AIenabled solutions run autonomously and

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