• How to Secure Your Infrastructure Before It’s Too Late

    How to Secure Your Infrastructure Before It’s Too Late

    The key to a secure IT infrastructure does not start with technology. It starts with curiosity. Being curious helps you learn, and learning helps you understand and stop cyberattacks. If you often ask how things work or how they can break, you already think like a security person. Today, attacks happen all the time, and the real question is not if something will happen, but if you are ready.

    So how do you protect your infrastructure from hackers or problems? This is what I have learned from doing research, reading about real attacks, and talking to companies. What matters most is your mindset.

    What Often Goes Wrong

    Many companies that get hacked make the same simple mistakes. One big mistake is not watching what happens in their systems. If you do not collect logs, you will not know when something strange happens. Another common problem is not updating systems. Many companies leave security holes open for a long time.

    Some allow too much traffic through their firewalls, like setting everything to “allow.” That is like leaving your door open just because no one has tried to enter yet.

    Another issue is that many users have access to things they do not need. If a hacker gets access to one of these accounts, maybe from a phishing email or a leaked password, they can quickly move deeper into the network. If the network is not divided into smaller parts, the hacker can access everything.

    I’ve also spoken to companies who say they don’t need strong security because nothing bad has happened. They trust their developers and IT team. But to me, that sounds like saying: “If I install an alarm in my store, it means I won’t get robbed.” Of course, that is not true. Saying “we already know everything” shows a lack of curiosity. If you are not interested in learning more, you will not be ready when something happens.

    Real Example: Change Healthcare Attack (2024)

    In early 2024, a company called Change Healthcare was hit by a ransomware attack. This stopped medical services in many states in the US.

    The attackers used an old VPN system that did not have two-factor login. They logged in using a real user account (MITRE ATT&CK T1078: Valid Accounts). After that, they used PowerShell (MITRE ATT&CK T1059.001: PowerShell – a tool used to run commands on Windows computers) to move through the network and steal data. Because the network was not divided into smaller parts, the hackers could take over everything.

    The result was big delays, financial loss, legal issues, and lost trust.

    And this kind of attack happens all the time.

    What MITRE ATT&CK Can Teach Us

    MITRE ATT&CK is a helpful list of techniques that hackers use. Some common ones are:

    • T1078: Valid Accounts – using real usernames and passwords.
    • T1059.001: PowerShell – running commands quietly in the background.
    • T1021: Remote Services – moving around using tools like RDP or SSH.
    • T1562: Impair Defenses – turning off antivirus or other protections.

    These same methods are used again and again because many companies ignore basic security steps.

    How to Protect Your Infrastructure

    Security is not just about tools. It is about good habits and thinking the right way.

    Zero Trust means not trusting anyone or anything without checking first. Every login and access request should be verified.

    Network segmentation means dividing your systems into smaller parts. If one part is hacked, the rest stays safe.

    Logging and monitoring are also important. Tools like Splunk or Microsoft Sentinel can help you see problems early. Just collecting logs is not enough. You need to understand them too.

    Hardening means turning off things you do not need, like unused software, accounts, or open ports. The CIS Benchmarks are a good guide for this.

    Least privilege means only giving users the access they really need. No one should use admin accounts for daily work.

    And of course, multi-factor authentication (MFA) should be used for everything, like VPN, cloud tools, and admin portals. MFA can stop many attacks.

    Final Thoughts

    Securing your infrastructure is not something you do one time. It is something you think about all the time. Threats change every day. The best protection is to keep learning and stay curious.

    Some people say, “we installed antivirus in 2018.” Others say, “we test attacks in our own lab and use MITRE to understand threats.” The second group is the one that will be ready.

    So don’t wait. Be curious. Learn how hackers think. Read real examples. And build your systems to handle attacks, not just hope they never happen.