Cybersecurity is as real as taxes. If the State extracted taxes to protect its citizens from physical threats, then corporations need to invest in Cybersecurity to protect its stakeholders and the precious data which brings business value.
There is a need to have a well–defined cybersecurity plan which will be provided by a Cybersecurity Services company ( Cyber Security Managed Services ).
But what is resilience, let’s find out.
In short, it’s a written document, which contains the organisation’s security policies, procedures and countermeasure plans. What it means is that the operations and assets of the organisation are secure and have integrity.
Make sure that the chief security officer (CSO) answers the current and future scenarios of cyber security and how the organisation is going to prepare for changes.
A cyber security plan understands the IT environment, allowing them to make the necessary amendments to secure it.
A good cybersecurity plan includes the following.
- Create an incident response plan – It’s a strategy to reduce damage drastically. Hence, an automated early detection system can deal with securing the data.
- Create a remote wipe of data: Protect critical assets by creating a remote wipe of the data in case the asset is stolen. Shred every piece of data that is sensitive to ensure that the dumpster is completely clean.
- Maintenance & Monitoring – Learn the proactive and preventive approach, don’t let the organisation be reactive. Remember that cyber threats are real and there are people paid, known as black hats, to attack an organisation.
- Proactive approach – Just like business continuity and disaster recovery, penetration testing and vulnerability assessment are the keys to ensure the same. Build a managed security services approach to execute all things related to your business.
- Create compliance protocols – There are compliances like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards), and HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and many more. Please be compliant with the ones relevant to your business to avoid heavy penalties which can be a disaster for the brand and its bottom lines. A cyber security plan should be incorporated as a practice, so don’t ignore it.
- Awareness and training sessions: When you engage in training of employees, please train them regularly around cybersecurity awareness. In short, a cyber security plan must include employees and they must know that they are vulnerable to malicious attacks from potent individuals and organisations.
- Framework first: Create governance for a 3P structure – It’s all about people processes, and technology within the company and nothing can work in silos.
- Administrative plans:
1. Identity and Access Management, including Privileged Access Management for Administrative Roles.
2. Strong passwords
3. Multi-Factor Authentication
4. Device and Data Encryption
5. Bring Your Device (BYOD) Policy
6. Firewalls.
7. Systems for Intrusion Detection (IDS / IPS)
8. Security Incident and Event Management Systems (SIEM)
9. Spam Filter/Anti-Phishing.
- Roles and Responsibilities: Give responsibility to the employees within internal control functions to perform access reviews, educate other staff members, oversee change management protocols and provide implementation support for the cyber security policy.
- Classification of Data – Data classification is important for risk assessment which essentially separates between sensitive and non-sensitive information. Data can be classified into:
1. Public
2. Private
3. Confidential
4. Restricted
5. Internal Use Only
6. Intellectual Property
Once the critical assets are identified and segregated evaluate the related functions of technology. Businesses should be involved as a support function within the network. Evaluate the technology under the following:
- Identification of the Operating Systems (Servers / Desktop / Laptop) used within the entire network.
- Categorise devices nearing to End-of-Life period; accordingly discontinue updates.
- Deploy support personnel to maintain critical assets.
- Remove duplication of services provided by different systems.
With the number of cyberattacks increasing at a tremendous pace, working with a Cyber Security Service provider would be wise choice.
According to Marketsand Markets the global Cyber Security Market size as per revenue surpassed $173.5 billion in 2022 and is anticipated to exhibit a CAGR of 8.9 per cent to reach over $266.2 billion by the end of 2027.
Conclusion
According to McKinsey the damage from cyberattacks will amount to about $10.5 trillion annually by 2025—a 300 percent increase from 2015 levels.
In the face of this cyber onslaught, organizations around the world spent around $150 billion in 2021 on cybersecurity alone.
By prioritizing cybersecurity, you demonstrate a commitment to protecting your organization’s assets, reputation, and customer trust. It requires a proactive and ongoing effort to respond to incidents, mitigate risks, and adapt to the evolving threat landscape.
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