With no shortage of cyber attacks in recent history targeting small and medium-sized businesses to multinational enterprises as well as governments and individuals, cybersecurity has been a topic at the forefront of the new digital age.
Some of the key pieces of advice to navigating the digital age and determining what level of
cybersecurity is adequate that Cyberward most commonly recommends to clients are:
Assess Your current state
First things first, understand where you stand presently in terms of your organization’s greatest
strengths and weaknesses. Benchmark your organization against an industry matured
governance framework (there are many to choose from) for organizing the people, processes and technologies that are relevant to cyber risk. Understand the viability and scope of the existing cybersecurity measures that are deployed across the organization to analyze them against the threats which are most pertinent in today’s landscape.
Doing so will help eliminate the need to make assumptions, allowing you to take fact-based
strategic decisions. Once systemic and addressable issues are identified, you will gain clarity on
what needs to go into the strategic plan to remediate and reach the target state.
Align your People Resources
People alignment involves a bi-directional approach. On one hand, you need to involve top
management in your organization by ensuring a common understanding in the criticality of
investing in cybersecurity measures. What is key as an organizational theme is to transform
cybersecurity from being a progress blocker or drain on resources, to an enabler which could
potentially lead to increased business, positive reputation and heightened investor confidence.
Many of the most pervasive breaches in history ‘by inside’ trusted threat actors, including negligent employees, corporate spies, disgruntled employees, and vendors. Lack of awareness about an organization’s cybersecurity policies is also one of the biggest reasons for such breaches. Therefore, it is essential that you ensure everyone is on the same page of the cybersecurity handbook.
Set and Monitor Your Performance
After performing a risk analysis of your organization, you will be able to understand which
business assets hold the most value, which areas require special focus of the information security teams, and which are most prone to attack or abuse. This will allow you to get a fair perspective on your organization’s risk appetite, enabling your cybersecurity budget and resources.
Without measurable metrics, strategic decision is just a shot in the dark with no way of knowing
whether it will meet target requirements. Evaluation of the cybersecurity strategy would need a
comparative analysis between the Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) and Key Performance Indicators
(KPIs).
By doing this, you will be able to eliminate deficient or poorly implemented processes and attune
your strategy to the risk appetite of your organization.
Treat Risks – Avoid, Accept, Reduce/Mitigate, and Transfer
Despite having a defined strategy in place, you can never place 100% confidence in your
information security program. That is why, it is crucial that you also prepare for all tactical
possibilities, namely – the course of action that you should take to treat cybersecurity risks.
- Avoid: As much and as far as possible, avoid cyber risks by discontinuing the conditions that might expose your organization.
- Accept: For risks that have already been acknowledged and will not be addressed, it is advisable to conduct a cost-benefit analysis; if the cost of treating the risk exceeds the value of the affected asset (and its data) than risk acceptance may be a valid strategy.
- Reduce/Mitigate: Typically, the most commonly used risk treatment option; involves implementing additional controls to reduce the original inherent risk down to a manageable, acceptable level.
- Transfer: Distribute ownership of the risk to another party; commonly utilized in an organization that has multiple business units that manage the same asset. Also used in conjunction with cyber insurance; i.e. risk impact is transferred to the third party insurance provider.
Use a Lifecycle Approach
With the changing technology landscape, the cybersecurity landscape is also changing.
Organizations of all sizes must pivot to becoming risk conscious throughout the entire lifecycle of an asset. A popular methodology to follow throughout the lifecycle of developing any new
process or system is the PLAN-DO-CHECK-ACT methodology which emphases proper planning, self assessment (checking) and continual improvement.
Cyberward has a breadth of expertise in serving clients across different industry verticals and
respective sizes. Our assessment methodology ensures that no stone is left unturned in providing the right advice and keys to success.
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