At a time when the country and the world are facing the pros and cons of what is becoming a very rapid digital transition, the question is no longer 'which companies will be attacked'. The question is 'when and with what scale and consequences'. According to the Portuguese Cybersecurity Report, in 2022, 91% of cybercrime cases resulted from the vulnerability of services. And that same year, the number of incidents reported to the police increased by almost 50% compared to the previous year.
Aware of the numbers, which are growing exponentially, and how the sophistication of cybercrime has kept pace with this upward movement, MEO Empresas has been alerting its partners and customers. After Lisbon and the Autonomous Region of Madeira, the third Cyber Security event was held this time in Ponta Delgada, in the Autonomous Region of the Azores.
The opening speech was given by Altice Portugal's Chief Sales Officer B2B, Nuno Nunes, who began by warning that most attacks start with people and their behaviour.
"To avoid an attack, we have to have predictive tools, supported by artificial intelligence, with a team that will help us. About two years ago, MEO companies invested in a platform that uses artificial intelligence to support the work it does with customers. We have the privilege of having a Global Operation Center. This is a differentiating position in the market and a competitive advantage," he said.
Over the course of a three-hour debate that also included contributions from Bruno Horta Soares, Leading Executive Advisor at IDC Portugal, Bruno Motta, Cyber Warfare Operations at Altice Portugal, and Luís Cabral, Commercial Director at MEO Empresas Açores, the biggest challenges that companies have been called upon to respond to were mapped out. From the total blockage of operations, to the possibility of sensitive data being exposed to the public, to the potential for reputational damage that a possible cyber-attack could cause, the meeting served to show the unavoidable space that a cyberspace security strategy must increasingly occupy in the management of a company.
It's a wake-up call that began many years ago within MEO Empresas itself, namely through employee training and the implementation of a set of procedures to guarantee the group's digital security. The aim is that, since employees are a possible gateway for hackers, MEO Empresas's cybersecurity strategy starts with them.
The doctrine of MEO Empresas, with regard to cybersecurity, is based on five complementary dimensions:
- Governance - Supported by the formal existence of a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)
- Prevention - This involves, among other things, the recurring assessment of vulnerabilities, processes for updating security patches in systems
- Protection - Aims to contain an incident based on in-depth cyberdefense of all technological perimeters and infrastructures, using the best technologies and services on the market.
- Detection & Counter-response - Pillar focused on the rapid detection and mitigation of attempted attacks by specialised teams that guarantee continuous 24x7 monitoring.
- Recovery - Recovery time and the effort the company will have to make to get its services and systems back to normal. It is crucial to guarantee the rapid recovery of Active Directory and Backups, which are typically the primary targets of a ransomware attack, for example
In the market in which it operates, MEO Empresas has been offering various solutions that provide customers with a cybersecurity service. This has been a clear and ever-increasing commitment by the group, which is aware that its leadership positions it in a position of special responsibility in this area.
As a Global Operation Center, MEO Empresas offers its customers customers the service of a specialised team that takes the front line in responding to attacks on information systems and networks. It is this team, made up of certified people with the necessary skills and qualifications, that follows up and monitors incidents, providing the appropriate support to customers in a crisis situation.
At this meeting, MEO Empresas gave assurances that it will continue to work with customers and partners on solutions that mitigate the likelihood of suffering a cyber attack, but also on tools that will enable them to be dealt with if they do occur. The aim is for companies to view the operator as a global player with the competence and capacity to respond to their current and future needs.