Cyber resilience. Picture: Dell Technologies
South African organisations are being urged to rethink their approach to cybersecurity, with Dell Technologies warning that resilience cannot start at the Security Operations Centre (SOC).
By the time an alert reaches the SOC, attackers may already have infiltrated systems, leaving businesses to deal with disruption, financial losses and reputational damage.
Hybrid work
In an era of hybrid work and increasingly sophisticated threats, the endpoint has become the frontline of defence.
Dell said hybrid work models have expanded the attack surface dramatically. Employees now connect from offices, homes, customer sites and public networks, making traditional perimeter‑based security approaches less effective.
The company added that widespread adoption of cloud platforms, AI‑powered tools and digital collaboration systems has created new points of exposure.
Digital workplace
The corporate network is no longer the centre of the digital workplace, and attackers are exploiting blind spots through firmware manipulation, BIOS attacks and credential theft.
“By the time an alert reaches the SOC, an attacker may already have gained a foothold within the environment,” says Musa Masungwini, Data Protector & Cyber Defender at Dell Technologies South Africa.
Warning
He warns that SOCs, while critical, are fundamentally reactive — designed to detect suspicious activity only once indicators of compromise become visible.
“Cyber resilience cannot begin at the SOC. It must begin at the point where users interact with corporate systems every day.”
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Resilience
Masungwini argues that resilience must be embedded at the device level. Hardware‑based protections operating beneath the operating system can verify device integrity, monitor firmware health and detect tampering before it escalates.
“The objective is not to replace SOC investments, but to reduce the number of incidents that require SOC intervention in the first place,” he explains.
Automation
Automated firmware verification, BIOS protection and intelligent telemetry can help organisations identify anomalies earlier, strengthening resilience across distributed workforces.
For South African IT leaders, the message is clear: cyber resilience is no longer defined solely by how quickly an organisation can respond to an incident.
“It is increasingly measured by how effectively compromise can be prevented,” Masungwini says.
In an era of hybrid work, distributed teams and sophisticated attacks, the most resilient organisations will be those that combine strong detection and response with proactive, device‑level protections.
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