Prepress

Guarding your digital assets the right way

Wednesday 07. October 2020 - Raising awareness and providing guidance, the European Cyber Security Month (ECSM) has an important role in promoting digital security. During the current pandemic, cyber security has grown into an even more business-critical factor. As offices become decentralised and digitally connected, safeguarding IT systems properly is an absolute cornerstone for maintaining and growing business success.

Cyber security threats escalate as the amount of remote work increases. Small and medium-sized businesses in particular are struggling to secure their digital workplaces.
With its comprehensive managed security services, Konica Minolta provides the exact IT that its customers need to secure their ecosystems. This is how the IT specialist is addressing their requirements with state-of-the art solutions that raise their cyber security to the next level. ECSM will take place in October and provide a wide range of different events, webinars and other formats.
With the ever-growing importance of cyber security, the upcoming European Cyber Security Month has gained even more relevance, especially as the Covid-19 pandemic has changed work as we knew it. Remote work has hugely increased from 36% before to 88% after the beginning of the pandemic[1]. By enabling digital collaboration and remote access, digital tools have taken on a key role since the worldwide outbreak in March. When offices are decentralised and tools are given even greater responsibility for work than before, their security becomes an integral part of business success, especially as threats during the pandemic have skyrocketed. Reported phishing attacks grew by 667% in March 2020[2] as remote work became established. This is reflected in a troubling assessment by IT professionals with regard to IT security: 90% of IT professionals believe remote workers pose a security risk in general, and more than half (54%) believe that remote employees pose a greater security risk than onsite employees.[3]
“Cyber security is absolutely key for today’s businesses and has gained even more relevance due to the current pandemic. When companies work mainly remotely, digital tools and their protection become a crucial factor for business success,” explains Yoann Fortini, Senior IT Services Business Development Manager at Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe. Businesses have started to recognise the importance of cyber security. 88% of companies surveyed by IDC expect major changes to their IT strategy following the pandemic. There will be a new normal for working – and it has to be safeguarded properly. A dedicated focus will be put on cyber security: 83% of companies are forecast to maintain or increase their budgets in this field, while in the midst of the lockdown (April 2020) budgets for strategic and tactical cyber security rose significantly. Spending on secure remote access, for example, increased from 26% at the end of March (20.03-23.03) to 43% at the end of April (20.04-27.04)[4].
“While companies aim to improve their cyber security measures, we often see that their security does not fit their demands. This can be due to a lack of knowledge about which setup might fit the company best or to budgetary reasons,” explains Yoann Fortini. “Not securing IT properly in today’s world, and particularly this situation, is not an option, as this threatens the whole business. Having an experienced partner for IT and cyber security at hand is be a game changer in this situation”.
Konica Minolta solutions promoting cyber security
With its holistic 360-degree security approach, Konica Minolta provides managed security services that suit exactly the IT situation of its customers and come with top-level guardiancy. One example is the all-in-one IT solution Workplace Hub, which offers state-of-the-art IT infrastructure, best-of-breed software and managed IT services. Thanks to a partnership with Sophos, Konica Minolta’s Workplace Hub security services include the XG-Firewall. In addition, especially smaller businesses profit by secure VPN, which is also important in light of Covid-19 and the need to work from home, as IDC found that most companies could not provide their employees remote access via encrypted connection to the internal company network.[5] And, if a cyber-attack does occur, Konica Minolta’s backup and recovery services ensure that data is not irretrievably lost and will be restored. Besides, to prevent other unauthorised entry ways into a company’s network such as via peripheral edge devices like Konica Minolta’s video surveillance systems from Mobotix, these feature many efficient protective measures against hacker attacks as standard.
“Konica Minolta is eager to support companies to address their pain points with regard to cyber security. Pursuing our comprehensive approach, we provide solutions tailored to the customer to make their IT and security future-ready,” concludes Yoann Fortini at Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe.