Cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated every day. Advanced persistent threats (APTs) and targeted attacks can infiltrate even systems believed to be secure, and in many cases, evade detection long enough for the criminals to steal vital data and wreak havoc on your network. In short, cyber criminals are getting smarter and constantly looking for ways to thwart cyber security measures.

That’s why it is vital for your security solutions to be smarter than criminals. Security should not be an afterthought, nor should it function separately from the rest of your IT systems. To successfully rise to the challenges of today’s online environment, in which the vast majority of companies are targets and the costs of attacks reach well into the billions, your security solutions must be seamlessly integrated into your network and customized to your environment, increasing the likelihood that your data and networks will remain safe.

Such advanced security measures rely on the following three core principles.

Real-Time, Specialized Threat Detection

When it comes to protecting your network, you cannot wait for threats to be identified before managing them. Many hackers rely on zero-day exploits, or vulnerabilities that have not yet been discovered and patched, to breach networks. While many of these exploits are quickly discovered and contained, there is still the possibility they could be used to attack your network.

Ideally, a smart security solution will work in real time, constantly updating to protect your data and networks against the constantly emerging threats. This means your security adapts automatically, using IP whitelists, custom signatures and other means to automatically protect against even previously unknown threats and those specific to your organization.

Custom Defense Against Advanced Targeted Attacks

Typical security systems rely on known threats to protect your network. Using data gathered from trillions of bytes of data, security developers learn to distinguish malware and potential threats from harmless data. They then use that knowledge to build defenses.

The problem is that such standard threat detection, while adequate for the average home computer user, does not account for advanced persistent threats or targeted attacks. A cyber criminal who wants your data and access to your network will often not use existing malware to gain access, but instead develop new ways to gain access. This presents a challenge to standard security software, as it may not recognize the signatures of these attacks, thus allowing the criminals access to secure networks.

Smart security, on the other hand, is customized to your environment. Rather than relying on known signatures, it relies on your organization’s normal data patterns, identifying malicious behaviors and communications outside of the norm, and then containing them. Through careful analysis of what constitutes “normal” behavior in your network combined with global security intelligence, suspicious behavior is more easily identified and contained, creating more customized protection and the ability to effectively respond and fight back against malicious attackers.

Automatic Deployment

A server security solution is most effective when it’s fully integrated into daily operations and can adjust based on new workloads. Smart security is automatic, providing protection against threats in real time, even before you’ve had a chance to apply patches or other fixes. Using the data gathered by deep discovery, your solution should be proactive and automatically deploy across the entire OS in the physical and virtual environments. With a fully integrated security solution, you can adapt to new threats automatically and respond accordingly, keeping your data and networks safe from unauthorized, and costly, security breaches.

Employing smart security keeps your data and networks safe, and avoids the costly consequences of a data breach. Even if you think that your business isn’t a target for cyber criminals, chances are you have something of value to hackers and could become the victim of an advanced persistent threat. For that reason, you need to look beyond standard security solutions and use one that combines real-time custom defenses, specialized protection against targeted attacks and works automatically and seamlessly across your operating systems and applications in the physical and virtual environments.