How a modern integration solution protects against cyber threats

When cyber security is on the agenda, it frequently relates to protecting against ransomware, DDoS-attacks, insider threats and phishing. The answer to these threats is usually a combination of various technical solutions and increased user knowledge. Another component, that is often overlooked, is how secure is your integration engine – by deploying a modern solution security is instantly enhanced.

“Simplicity is often seen as one of the most important factors when looking to establish a secure environment. Security work rarely succeeds by being complicated and resource-intensive. A modern integration engine provides companies with the opportunity to combine existing security solutions and knowledge, to enable an easier and more efficient way of working”, comments Connect Companies/Blue Integrator’s integration expert Magnus Nordin.

Magnus Nordin lists three factors where an integration engine can make a difference in terms of security:

• Just by using an integration engine, there is an immediate benefit as you are opening fewer doors for a potential attacker. The integration engine increases security by moving away from one-to-one integrations where the number of potential access points can be very high. When everything goes through an integration engine, you can control and ensure authentication, encryption, blocking, whitelisting in an efficient way.
• By using an integration engine, you create better conditions for working dynamically without requiring large resources, in contrast to the one-to-one integration approach. Instead of having to verify all the connections, with one connection changes can be made immediately and updates are sent to all the connected systems. Security updates become seamless and quick.
• With a modern integration engine, it becomes easier to efficiently manage authorizations and control who gets to do what. This can relate to who is permitted to make calls based on a certain IP address or who can demand the right information if dynamic IP is used. Furthermore, an integration engine can ensure that an order is in the right format before it goes further into the system.

Using an integration engine versus direct integration
Instead of registering and fetching information from many different subsystems, an integration engine, like Blue Integrator, can handle all the information from one place. Unlike solutions with many direct integrations, using an integration engine means that information only needs to be registered once, saving time and resource while reducing the risk of errors. It is also significantly easier to add to the system, upgrade and change processes over time. Blue Integrator is easy to implement and enables a very large number of integrations, including ERP-systems like SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Pyramid, Jeeves and Garp.

Magnus Nordin