Cybersecurity for Media & Entertainment: Reducing threats in an evolving landscape

Article written by Arthur Tang and Candice S. Lu . Read the full article here.

Your guide to cybersecurity for media and entertainment

How can your organization best guard itself from cyberattacks? The first step is understanding the types of threats you face today. You can then pinpoint your unique vulnerabilities and begin addressing immediate needs. Next, you can start preparing for the future, anticipating the types of threats that could emerge as you adopt new technologies and expand into new ways of distributing content.

How Can You Begin to Combat Cybercrime?

For many organizations, the first step is conducting a thorough security audit. You need to fully understand your current security posture and evaluate your risks. 

Once you’ve pinpointed potential gaps and vulnerabilities, you need to improve your cyber hygiene (or “digital” hygiene). That process can span everything from updating your infrastructure and improving network security to modifying workflows and training employees. 

You can minimize the impact of ransomware and other types of malware attacks with a robust backup and disaster recovery (DR) plan. If a hacker threatens to delete your files or permanently prevent you from accessing them, you can avoid having to pay a ransom if you have a reliable, recent backup of that data. 

To minimize the risk of social engineering attacks, your organization should train—and periodically retrain—your employees. Employees must understand the importance of avoiding social engineering schemes and know how to identify suspicious emails and texts.

The Future of Cybersecurity

The emergence of 5G technology presents important opportunities for M&E companies. For example, you can use 5G to provide better connectivity to your distributed workforce. But at the same time, 5G technology can create new risks. The shift away from centralized infrastructure and increasing use of edge environments, mobile devices, and IoT devices means that your organization must extend cybersecurity capabilities farther beyond the data center. 

Offering augmented reality apps or venturing into the metaverse can put your organization and your audience at risk of cyberattacks. Each new app, device, and environment gives hackers new opportunities to intercept network traffic, gain unauthorized access to data, and surreptitiously learn more about users.

Planning for the future

As cybercriminals continue to find new ways to steal content and illegally access other sensitive data, M&E businesses must make cybersecurity a high priority. Companies must better defend against the social engineering schemes, ransomware attacks, and other types of threats that can lead to lost revenues, regulatory fines, costly lawsuits, and damaged reputations.

The Qvest cybersecurity consulting practice can help your organization address the complex landscape of cyberthreats facing the M&E industry. Our team draws on deep expertise, proven methodologies, strong partnerships, and an extensive understanding of leading security technologies. We can help you assess your current security posture, improve digital hygiene, implement the right technologies for your organization, and better prepare your employees for shifting threats.