The past 24 months have seen a marked increase in the amount of cybercrime thanks to the move into a hybrid working environment.

Part of this increase has been driven by a move toward cloud-based applications although this alone is not solely responsible for the spike we’ve seen over the months. Time and time again we’ve seen instances where poorly configured web applications lead to data breaches or full on attacks on corporations and this requires addressing.

Recently, Radware together with Obscure hosted an Executive Digital Roundtable in which the topic of securing applications in a world that is increasingly becoming digital-first was discussed.

One of the major challenges faced by businesses today is keeping up with a threat landscape that evolves by the day. As such, many businesses may be tempted to just kick the can down the road when it comes to digitalisation but that’s a bad idea.

This is because consumers have shifted their shopping habits to contactless solutions where possible. Online shopping, banking and even entertainment is by-and-large done online for the most part.Even more important though, if a business isn’t online, that’s a good thing for the competition.

“If your company has no online presence, how do you expect customers to get to know your business and what you offer? If your competitor is online the customer will likely favour them. You need to make it as easy as possible for a customer to get to know your product and business,” explains the security Architect from a global Industrial Engineering company with operations in 25 countries across 6 continents.

This is true for businesses across all sectors, private and public, and businesses of all sizes.

However, having an online presence is only part of the journey as securing the data that resides online is likely as important as establishing a digital presence. This doesn’t mean that the cloud is less secure than on-prem solutions, but rather that it is different and must be approached as such from a company perspective.

For example, if a cybercriminal can’t successfully pull off a ransomware attack, they could target the applications that are used, rendering the business incapable of doing business.

“What we’re finding from an application attack perspective is that application security means nothing if your application is web facing and somebody can hit you with a distributed denial of service attack,” head of cybersecurity at Vox Telecom, Richard Frost, said.

“Now you’ve done all you can to protect the application but somebody has flooded your environment with so much traffic that the application is rendered useless. It has become so bad that attackers are making contact with clients and demanding a ransom to stop the attack,” adds Frost.

“I think that’s why cybercrime is so focussed on applications, it’s what hurts us most,” says Frost.

The other side of the coin is when companies don’t make security a priority when embarking on a digital transformation journey leaving them exposed to even more risk. This can be avoided however, with careful planning and a partnership with a service provider that is willing to take that journey with you and your business.

“You have to look at security holistically and start from the bottom and move up through the business,” explains Dewald Terblanche, country manager for Radware.

The country manager explains that many of the attacks it sees on its clients, such as DDoS attacks, provide a smokescreen for something more nefarious than the DDoS attack itself.

Radware offers frictionless security that keeps up with the demands of your business no matter the sector. Whether you need application security, public cloud protection or DDoS protection, Radware consultants are ready to not only help, but understand the needs of your business.

For more information head to the Obscure website and book a consultation to learn more about Radware.