Why Your Utility Needs Cyber Security Protection

There was a time when we didn’t need locks on our exterior doors, but now we do. Locks protect our valuables and keep us safe. Just like we need a lock on our home and office doors, your utility needs cybersecurity protection. Managed detection and response (MDR) works just like a door lock. No one can get in without your knowing.

 What is Managed Detection and Response (MDR)?

Managed Detection and Response (MDR) works in conjunction with your firewall and virus protection to detect and prevent threats before they become severe. When you have MDR in place, a team of cybersecurity experts uses a combination of tools to monitor, detect and respond to cyber threats,  rapidly identifying and limiting the impact of security incidents.

When you use a managed detection and response service like Covalence, you have world-class protection in technology and human analysis to keep your network free of vulnerabilities that bad actors can exploit.

Why Your Utility Needs Cybersecurity Protection like MDR

MDR is a proactive approach to threat detection. Threat hunters sift through alerts to determine if you need to take action against them. When a threat needs a response, the MDR team determines the source and helps resolve the issue to keep it from happening again.  MDR not only analyzes a utility’s network but also determines where the vulnerabilities are. And a threat hunter sees beyond one individual incident and understands the overall structure of a utility’s threat surface.

Utilities Need Cyber Security Protection from Bad Actors

You may think that only large utility companies and big cities are a target for cybercrimes. But, you’d be wrong. All you have to do is search online for “utility cyberattack,” and you’ll see a small- to medium-sized utility was a victim of ransomware in the last month or two. Unfortunately, it’s not only ransomware that is being pointed at municipal utilities of your size. Bad actors are looking for any vulnerability in your customer information system's network to get information about your community. They may attack with ransomware right away or ever; they may get in to gain knowledge about your community and your critical systems. They’ll use that knowledge or sell it, and the results can be devastating for your community.

 It’s Not Enough to Protect Your Network’s Perimeter

It used to be that a firewall and virus protection could handle most of what cybercriminals could throw at your network. These measures were a good lock on your front door, and they kept most threats from affecting your network. But now, that’s not the case. A firewall and virus protection shields a utility from known threats. Once the industry knows about a threat, it takes steps to defuse the code, making it harmless. But, with just a few tweaks to the code, a bad actor can get past a firewall and virus protection with an unknown threat. 

 Managed detection and response (MDR) is a service that analyses your utility’s network traffic to see the trends that could potentially be a threat. It’s like a lock on your front door with a security guard patrolling your property and your home. Threat hunters do just what their name implies; they hunt for threats and take action before these threats affect your system.

What Challenges Can Managed Detection and Response Address for Your Utility?

 Cyber threats are growing in volume, variety, and sophistication, and it’s almost impossible for a small- to medium-sized municipal utility to keep up. You’d need a team of experts around the clock analyzing your network traffic. And with budgets the way they are for most utilities, it’s better to outsource MDR than keep it in-house. MDR services are much more affordable than you think. You get a team of world-class threat hunters working for you for the fraction of the cost to hire an in-house team.

 Covalence MDR provides a cost-effective service designed to improve your current defenses and minimize your risk of cyberattacks. Covalence uses a team of highly skilled analysts with cutting-edge security tools to help you keep pace with the ever-evolving adversarial tactics of bad actors.  With Covalence in play, they will protect your network from endpoint to endpoint, and you’ll get enterprise-level threat monitoring, detection, and analysis at a fraction of the cost of having an in-house team.  Covalence offers you utility proactive defense intelligence and insight that will keep you up-to-date with compliance challenges and will enhance the cybersecurity protection your utility currently has in place.

 Ready to see what Covalence can do for your utility? Schedule a demo today.