A determined hacker can bypass even the most robust security program. I bet you’re asking, what should my organization do? The answer is simple: layer your defenses to address gaps in your security strategy with the best solutions. The best solutions are also known as, best of breed solutions.
What is Best of Breed?
The best of breed approach provides the most effective security protection by identifying and implementing the best possible solutions. This approach selects a variety of providers and unties them into one single solution. Best of breed solutions are assembled by security firms that continuously analyze security products on the market to assess what is the best solution. This minimizes the potential for software functionality gaps and prevents you from being locked into one single vendor.
What is the difference between Best of Breed Solutions and Integrated Solutions?
An integrated solution is a single vendor approach, for example, your backup and DNS filtering are both from a single vendor. This typically means lower cost and greater compatibility, but is it the BEST option for your organization? Each component of a security strategy should be evaluated both for its performance and its compatibility with other, non-integrated components.
Best of Breed is the IronTech way, down to the very core of our culture.
IronTech Security implements best of breed within all of our solutions. Why? We do this because we want to create a one-stop shop that will best protect your organization. We continue to rip and replace software and continuously hunt for the best solutions. Hackers are becoming more and more advanced every single day. Best of breed solutions keep us on our toes and keep us up to date with the latest threats, risks, and vulnerabilities. That is why IronTech Security is best of breed, and always will be. We are dedicated to providing the best solutions for your organization.
Best of Breed + Layered Security
IronTech Security believes in the implementation of the layered security approach in addition to best of breed solutions. Each security layer must have the appropriate protection in place to prevent any vulnerabilities or loopholes. We compare layered security to an onion. Each “onion layer” needs the proper protection in place to mitigate threats and risks. We divide this into three controls: physical, technical, and administrative. Each security layer should be evaluated to assure that the foremost solutions are in place to avoid any possible loopholes.
Below are some examples associated with each layered security approach.
Physical Controls: fences, security cameras, and locked doors
Technical Controls: EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response), fingerprint readers, multi-factor authentication, disk encryption, and DNS filtering (domain name system)
Administrative Controls: continuous cybersecurity awareness training, policies and practices, data handling procedures, security requirements, and response and resilience plans
Each control plays a critical role in keeping your confidential information safe.
From a military standpoint, layered security can be referred to defense in depth. Defense in depth is the combination (or layers) of various tools that fill the gaps within security systems. The intent is to provide redundancy in the event that a security control fails. Defense in depth reduces time to detect attacks and provides a more comprehensive protection for your organization’s assets.
Best of breed and layered security both go hand in hand with the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) Cybersecurity Framework. Identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover. The NIST Cybersecurity Framework is a voluntary framework primarily intended for critical infrastructure organizations to manage and mitigate cybersecurity risk.