Cybersecurity is an ever-evolving game of cat and mouse. Every year, efforts to crack protected networks and sensitive data get more sophisticated and organized. AI scripts initiated by threat actors automate the process of looking for vulnerabilities, meaning it is just a matter of time until an enterprise’s systems are tested.
Fortunately, as cyber threats evolve, so do protection measures. Open source offerings bring customizable control to everyone – from individual users to massive international companies. Vendor-supplied offerings have also improved dramatically over the past few years, increasingly offering features like AI-driven threat detection and response.
While there’s no one-sized fits all list of cybersecurity tools that can fully protect an organization, there are a number of offerings worth considering. They include several pieces of technology thought of as foundational in this day and age.
Below is a list of some of the most-recommended cybersecurity tools and technology available, as well as some popular alternatives.
DDoS Protection
Dedicated Denial of Service (DDoS) protection ensures your site and web-hosted services aren’t vulnerable to one of the simplest but most impactful forms of attack. DDoS attacks are increasingly enacted through automated botnets scanning online for vulnerable, unprotected hosts. Worse, the crashes effected by these attacks tend to open up backdoors as services reboot and generic scripts run.
Without this form of protection, you can predict DDoS attempts on your hosted site and services on a regular basis.
Best Example: Cloudflare
Since it’s creation in 2010, Cloudflare has rapidly risen to become one of the most ubiquitous tools for anyone hosting web content. From hobbyist WordPress blogs to gigantic corporate names, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t use Cloudflare technology in some form or fashion.
Cloudflare’s original intention (and perhaps most important use case) is as a DDoS protection agent. Nearly anyone can wield a botnet to send enough traffic to crash a website — sometimes exposing key vulnerabilities in the process. Cloudflare’s reverse proxy service ensures that traffic gets filtered such that an overwhelming amount of requests can be automatically detected and mitigated.
Cloudflare has also presented numerous advantages to its clients, both customers and computers. As an edge computing server network, it allows for near-instant retrieval of content in order to speed page loading and reduce server loads.
Of all the recommended cybersecurity tools for 2022 on this list, Cloudflare proves perhaps the most indispensable because it complements a broad array of cybersecurity frameworks. Much like how hot sauce goes good with pretty much everything, Cloudflare is something that’s simply nice to haveno matter what else you have on your plate.
Data Analytics Repository
Data is an incredibly valuable tool in the never-ending defense of vulnerable assets. Your own data can reveal vulnerabilities, exploit attempts, unusual activities, or other vital information about your networked services and your entire tech ecosystem.
Data also serves as the fuel to propel SIEM and SOAR engines, allowing you to continuously monitor for threats and receive tailored insights based on your current security outlook.
Best Example: Splunk
As data becomes an increasingly valuable form of currency, it can also be wielded as a critical self-defense weapon for organizations seeking proactive protection against threats.
Splunk doesn’t just give organizations the means to make good use of their data; it also enables them to make sense of it. Data is now churned out at an incredible volume, both from on-premises assets and the technology that connects to them. No person or team can possibly process data at that velocity and volume, so Splunk emerged as a go-to tool in order to draw patterns and identify take-home lessons from the constant stream of information.
Splunk rapidly rose in utility as a versatile platform in the wake of the “big data” explosion starting around 2009 (though the company began in 2003!). However, it has really come to shine in our era of event-driven automation and in the midst of a business culture that demands always-on monitoring and reporting.
Organizations can get clever with how they leverage Splunk; it can serve as the connecting part to link key technologies, and it can also provide the primary engine for Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) objectives.
DNS Authentication and Protection
Bogus requests and faked user credentials pose an ever-present risk for digital services. Things can get especially hairy when an outside service is granted access, only to reveal its black hat nature as it begins rewriting scripts and infiltrating sensitive areas.
DNS protection software accompanies firewalls as a first line of defense against these attacks, bolstering your abilities to ensure that only valid, approved users and services gain access.
Best Example: DNSFilter
With an install base of 4 million users, DNSFilter is an emerging cybersecurity player with a lot of potential for growth. Handily it “does what it says on the tin” and provides a comprehensive AI-driven platform to protect services and authenticate valid requests.
While DNSFilter (the company, spelled as one word) is not the only DNS filter (the technology) in town, it has caught wind thanks to its AI-driven authentication, anomaly detection, and event management capabilities. Facing stiff competition from long-established players like CloudFlare, Cisco, WebTitan, and WebRoot, DNSFilter proper still has a lot of growth potential thanks to its singular focus and dedication to implementing advanced AI monitoring, feedback, and controls.
Cybersecurity for WordPress
Whether as a primary host or a back-end CMS platform, WordPress helps serve content for over 455 million websites, or around 35% of all websites that are active. Unfortunately, a common platform also means a common target for attacks. Cyber criminals have published thousands of pages of documentation revealing the best methods of getting around WordPress defenses or manipulating its various services to nefarious ends.
Having a security suite is a foundational component of using the platform without encountering common vulnerabilities and risks.
Best Example: WP Cerber Security
Cerber has become a go-to protection tool for websites leveraging WordPress. It primarily protects against brute force attacks but also provides robust defenses against IP spoofing, malware, spam, and phishing.
Those looking for robust protection for PHP websites in general can also look to Astra to serve as a firewall and IP gatekeeper to prevent some of the most common forms of attacks, including SQL injection.
Endpoint Security
Back when hardware was everything, endpoints were the prime cybersecurity vector for infiltration of mainframes and servers. While botnets and other online threats are now the bigger contenders, there is still the risk of a compromised device or other endpoint asset opening the backdoor to further chaos.
Endpoint security protects individual devices and assets while monitoring the network of connected assets as a whole. Issues like employees clicking on the wrong email or carrying malware with them through the Identity Access Management (IAM) barrier still persist in 2022, so having visibility into these devices is key for maintaining a vigilant security perimeter.
Best Example: ESET
ESET has been a pillar of the cybersecurity community for decades. Founded in 1992 (!) and with a logo that’s instantly recognizable, it’s safe to say ESET has become well established.
Considered a world-class endpoint protection security suite, ESET is now entrenched in modern enterprises and trusted by many in the Fortune 500. It effectively protects enterprise systems and data from its own internal users, guarding against viruses, rootkits, worms, spyware, and malware, including attacks from botnet-linked devices
Webroot is a popular alternative worth considering, especially as they have invested robustly in cloud-first security with a keen eye out forconstantly evolving phishing and ransomware schemes.
Lookout provides yet-another option for endpoint security. Its focus on bring-your-own-device (BYOD) enables organizations to remain flexible with how employees work without compromising security or data protection objectives.
Directory, Identity Platform
What would cybersecurity be without the venerable mainstays of user credentials and passwords? With a proliferation of platforms and services, maintaining a persistent identity for authorized users has become increasingly complex.
Admittedly, identity has always been a tricky challenge for cybersecurity professionals. It raises tough questions like: “How do we know who we’re dealing with and if they’re the same person we think we are? And “How do we keep verifying them to protect network, asset, data, and system safety without overburdening users?”
Selecting the right directory service for your enterprise is a key decision that will have ripple effects across your entire cybersecurity strategy. Worth mentioning, too, is that these decisions may have been made decades ago, with limited choices on how to migrate to another directory platform without encountering significant delays and costs. Add mergers and acquisitions to the mix, and you have a recipe that calls for some potent ingredients in order to maintain the foundational identity services needed to make enterprises secure.
Best Example: JumpCloud Directory Platform
JumpCloud walks the fine line between convenience and security so that organizations can keep a watchful eye on their ever-expanding stable of user identities. With support for cloud, single-sign on (SSO), multi-factor identification (MFA), mobile device management (MDM), and privileged access management (PAM), JumpCloud has the full collection of alphabet soup ready to help you achieve your forward-looking identity and cybersecurity objectives.
There’s also support for directory migration and cloud-based LDAP so that identity remains accurate yet flexible in the face of new technologies, acquisitions, mergers, and reorganization
RadiantLogic remains a well-established option for larger enterprises in this department, integrating with services like Okta for a true all-in-one virtualized directory solution.
Other Popular and Helpful Cybersecurity Tools for 2022
- Password management: Keeper — Rapidly becoming the go-to password management tool for enterprises
- Web security testing: Beagle — Get to know what you don’t already know with this highly customizable (and flexibly affordable) website & API security penetration testing tool
- Vulnerability testing: Kali Linux — Open source and 100% free, Kali isn’t just a tool for hackers but can also be used for those seeking to probe for vulnerabilities in their own technologies
- Packet analyzer: Wireshark — A free and open source packet analyzer that’s perfect for flexible and ad-hoc network analysis, troubleshooting, and communications protocol R&D
- Scanner: OpenVAS — A fairly lightweight scanner available under the free GNU license that can be used to assess and map vulnerabilities
- Database security testing: sqlmap — A popular tool for black hat Kali users, sqlmap can also be used to probe for common vulnerabilities in PHP sites and other database-driven content delivery systems
Attack Surface Management and Mapping:
With the rise in remote work, many enterprises have experienced increased use of mobile devices and cloud services. With more devices comes more users and more data — leaving these organizations with ever expanding attack surfaces. Attack Surface Management (ASM) is an emerging technology that continuously discovers, classifies, and monitors an organizations internal and external assets to identify any vulnerabilities.
Best Example: Lucidum
We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention our own tool: Lucidum. The world’s most-comprehensive analysis, detection, and ASM tool, Lucidum delivers the full 360° picture of what’s going on in your tech ecosystem.
Our platform provides visibility to monitor all endpoints, connected services, and other configuration items, including those that normally fly under the radar. With integrations into the world’s most popular enterprise tools — encompassing Okta, VMware, Solarwinds, Crowdstrike, AWS, Azure, and more — Lucidum is a comprehensive place to maintain constant vigilance across every facet of your digital operations.
Learn more about why Lucidum is becoming a hotly demanded attack surface management and mapping tool in our recent blog, or schedule a demo to see how powerful our AI and ML can be at putting everything on your radar, including the things other technologies miss!
