A Call for Cyber Resilience and Zero Trust: Illumio Month in Review

The start of 2022 has brought into focus the heightened priority of Zero Trust security in today’s cyber landscape. Many organizations are facing further complexity in their networks as flexible work options evolve, and a volatile geopolitical landscape has led to an exponential rise in international ransomware attacks and breaches.  

In response to growing public awareness and resulting pressure to mitigate these cyber risks, organizations are turning to Zero Trust Segmentation as the answer. 

Illumio named a Leader in the Forrester New Wave for Microsegmentation

Few security tools are equipped to meet the complexity of today’s segmentation needs with ease of use, scalability and effectiveness. With these attributes, Illumio stands out from the rest. Last month, Illumio was named a Leader in the first-ever Forrester New Wave for Microsegmentation. This adds to Illumio’s position as a Leader in The Forrester Wave: Zero Trust eXtended Ecosystem Platform Providers.

Download free copies of the Forrester reports to learn what makes Illumio a Leader in both Microsegmentation and Zero Trust.

Illumio’s record-breaking fiscal year of over 60 percent worldwide revenue growth in 2021 reflects the expanding realization that Zero Trust Segmentation is critical for modern security defenses. Forrester reiterated this in its report, explaining that “implicit trust on the network must end” and make way for segmentation if organizations want to be fully prepared for inevitable attacks.

Forrester scored Illumio as “differentiated” in half the report’s categories, including policy management, policy enforcement, interface/reporting, product vision, and product and service support. As a result, Forrester confirmed that Illumio “set[s] the standard for microsegmentation.”

Learn why Illumio was named a cybersecurity unicorn to watch in 2022.

As the pioneer of Zero Trust Segmentation, Illumio's ability to meet customers' scability needs was also highlighted by Forrester's report. The complexity of many organizations’ hybrid, multi-cloud and on-premises environments makes it difficult to implement micro-segmentation quickly and efficiently.

Illumio solves the limitations of traditional network segmentation by providing a reliable, pragmatic approach to deploying granular segmentation policies without disrupting critical applications or access to information. Forrester also noted customer praise for Illumio’s vulnerability maps, approach to labeling, ability to troubleshoot connectivity issues, and robust role-based access control (RBAC) policies.

Illumio is what modern micro-segmentation should look like, and Forrester’s report on the topic is a testament to the future of the micro-segmentation market.

Segmentation is central to national resilience

In his State of the Union address on March 1, President Biden addressed the United States’ pressing need to improve its cybersecurity defenses in the face of escalating ransomware and cyberattacks. He specifically focused on critical infrastructure, including utilities, manufacturing, semiconductor and automotive industries.

Find out why CEO Andrew Rubin says "cybersecurity is our greatest national resilience imperative.”

When nearly a third of all ransomware attacks in 2021 targeted OT networks, it became clear that cybersecurity was more than an IT issue. Cyberattacks can travel through any digital device, regardless of if it is connected to the cloud, on-premises or within a manufacturing system.

The federal government further emphasized the importance of cybersecurity in maintaining national resilience with the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act, a bill that supports Strengthening American Cybersecurity Act of 2022.

The act requires that organizations in 16 critical infrastructure sectors report a cyberattack within 72 hours and a ransomware payment within 24 hours. The mandate's purpose is twofold: It brings awareness to the widespread impact of cyberattacks and provides a real-time warning to organizations’ supply chains of the heightened possibility of an attack on their networks.

What does the Cyber Incident Reporting Act mean for you?

Don’t wait to implement Zero Trust Segmentation

It is up to organizations to quickly plan and implement an actionable security strategy. Waiting for a perfect, detailed plan can be costly — if not devastating — to an organization’s finances and reputation, especially with the number of attacks growing daily.

While cyber incident reporting sounds simple, it’s no easy feat for organizations without proper visibility and micro-segmentation. Many organizations lack ways of quickly locating and isolating cyberattacks within their own networks, and the new federal mandates mean even more processes must be put in place.

There’s also a growing realization that traditional security tools aren’t enough to protect today’s complex, hybrid networks left vulnerable to attacks in ways that are difficult to get visibility into.

Defeating modern cyberattacks requires layers of defense that go beyond network firewalls and EDR tools. These approaches cannot address the key requirements for defense in depth that organizations require for strong security defenses.

Find out why 68% of organizations plan to increase their Zero Trust investments in 2022.

Despite the urgency to be prepared for breaches, organizations often lag in the planning stages of their Zero Trust journey while their network remains wide open to imminent cyberattacks. What's the disconnect?

An antiquated understanding of how segmentation works keeps organizations from moving forward. It’s time to update the way we think about and implement segmentation.

Learn more about the Intelligent CISO’s caution to organizations: “Don’t delay on Zero Trust.”

By choosing a modern Zero Trust Segmentation platform, you can throw out old concerns that micro-segmentation requires a complete restructuring of your network, yet another agent to slow you down, or significant time offline that you can’t afford.

Organizations using Illumio can immediately gain visibility into how applications are communicating with each other. You can then configure the native firewalls that already exist on your network and in operating systems to turn high-level policies into workable security rules. Illumio Zero Trust Segmentation means you can scale however you need (start-up networks to global systems) and make your access rules as fine-grained as needed.

Learn more about a proven approach to building your segmentation strategy. Download the strategy guide, How to Build Your Micro-Segmentation Strategy in 5 Steps.

Or speak to one of our security experts to learn more about Zero Trust Segmentation. Contact us today.