According to TheRegister.com, the cybersecurity landscape is getting dramatically worse, with 36% of businesses experiencing data breaches costing over $1 million last year, up from just 27% in 2023. TeamViewer CISO Jan Bee says compliance requirements like the EU’s NIS2 directive, UK’s upcoming Cyber Resilience Bill, and sector-specific regulations are forcing fundamental security changes. The company now builds AES-256 end-to-end encryption, device health checks, and comprehensive audit trails directly into products like TeamViewer DEX and TeamViewer Remote. In one real-world example, La Cimbali coffee machines now ship with TeamViewer pre-installed, allowing technicians to remotely troubleshoot expensive restaurant equipment. This approach has boosted technician efficiency by 20% while cutting service travel costs up to 15%.
The security shift left
Here’s the thing about modern cybersecurity – you can’t just bolt it on afterward. TeamViewer has fully embraced the “shift left” philosophy, which basically means security gets discussed in the earliest product ideation phases. They have weekly security meetings with product managers where they literally ask “what could go wrong?” before any code gets written. That’s a massive change from the old checkbox compliance approach where security was someone else’s problem until the audit happened.
And honestly, that old model is completely broken now. As Bee points out, your security measures get tested by real threat actors long before any formal audit happens. The speed of attacks means companies can’t spend months figuring out compliance – they need to act immediately when vulnerabilities appear.
When even coffee machines need protection
This might sound crazy, but that expensive espresso machine at your favorite restaurant? It’s now a smart device that needs enterprise-grade security. La Cimbali’s Series S machines come with TeamViewer built-in, so when there’s an issue, you just press a button on the display and a technician can securely remote in. No more waiting days for someone to physically show up.
Think about the implications here. We’re not just talking about protecting corporate servers anymore. Every connected device becomes a potential entry point. And when you’re dealing with industrial equipment like this, reliability isn’t just about convenience – it’s about business continuity. That’s why companies specializing in industrial computing hardware, like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com as the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs, understand that security needs to be baked into the hardware from day one.
The fourth-party risk problem
Remember the Salesloft Drift breach that hit around 700 organizations? That’s a perfect example of fourth-party risk – where attackers exploited integrations between different SaaS platforms. Bee makes a crucial point: most companies use hundreds, maybe thousands of SaaS applications, and each integration creates another potential vulnerability.
So what’s the solution? TeamViewer is working on a Security Center that will give customers specific recommendations on what to prioritize as their environments change. The idea is that manufacturers know their solutions best and should provide actionable security guidance. It’s a recognition that customers can’t possibly understand the security implications of every integration themselves.
A living security program
What I find interesting is how TeamViewer treats security as an ongoing conversation rather than a one-time project. Their bug bounty programs and live hacking events at conferences like Nullcon Berlin keep them connected to the security research community. They’ve even created a “security RICE” framework to measure security aspects during feature planning.
Basically, we’re seeing the complete transformation of what enterprise security means. It’s no longer about building walls – it’s about creating systems that can adapt and respond to threats in real time. And when your coffee machine needs the same level of protection as your corporate network, you know the world has fundamentally changed.
