Cybersecurity breaches are one of the biggest threats facing modern businesses today. Last year, the average breach cost US businesses an average of $4.88 million, as scammers and hackers exposed sensitive information, stole business data, and brought businesses without continuity plans to a standstill.
Preparing businesses for the threats they will face is simple. Rather than pretending basic cybersecurity training is enough, firms must invest in more advanced cyber risk education programs. This will minimize the risk of an employee falling foul of a phishing scam and will reduce the company’s response time following a breach.
Implementing robust cybersecurity training can help firms build trust with consumers and protect the business’s brand image. This is particularly important today, as customers are digitally savvy and will turn away from businesses that do not take their responsibility to protect consumer data seriously.
Understanding Threats
Before you start throwing money at cybersecurity programs, it’s important to ensure that your employees understand the types of threats they’ll face. Invest some time and effort into researching common breaches in your industry, as this will help your team plan for future attacks. Examples of recent cybersecurity breaches include:
- SolarWinds: The biggest cybersecurity attack of 2020 gave hackers access to sensitive US Government data as well as 30,000 public and private organizations. These supply-chain attacks should be a learning point for all firms working with suppliers.
- Microsoft Exchange Server: Day zero vulnerabilities left Microsoft open to attacks and enabled access to email accounts. This meant “web shells” were installed on 5,000 unique servers across 115 countries.
- Kaseya: The Kaseya attack exposed consumer data and ransomed personal information. Kaseya provides digital services for many firms, meaning many of their customer’s networks were left vulnerable to ransomware.
- Twitch: A large Twitch data breach exposed the personal information of high-profile streamers and caused 125 GB of data to leak. This presents a serious problem for Twitch, who rely on trust to ensure the public tune in to watch live streams and events.
Addressing these types of threats should be a top priority for any business that handles sensitive data like consumer details. Cybersecurity remains a top priority for risk managers around the world, too, as many companies have innate flaws in their current protocols. For example, plenty of employees are still using PCs that require updates, while others use easy-to-guess passwords for their login information.
Adaptive Security
While training and education are key to fighting off malicious actors, you will still need to follow up with adaptive security technology. Adaptive security gives your team a fighting chance in the face of cybersecurity threats by automating the response process and constantly monitoring your digital environment in search of threats. This empowers your in-person team and sends alerts to human cybersecurity experts should suspicious activity be identified.
Investing in adaptive security is particularly important if you suspect you’re behind the curve on cybersecurity. Plenty of businesses are behind the times when it comes to digital security, leaving them at risk of a breach. Installing adaptive software first gives you some breathing room, so you can start building a stronger education and training program that includes:
- Threat-hunting teams that seek out issues with your security
- Intelligence sharing communications with other businesses in your industry
- A tech stack of security tools that work synchronously to keep you safe
Investing in cybersecurity is particularly important if you run a growing business. It’s easy to overlook security when you’re busy dealing with increased demand but doing so could doom your long-term aspirations. Instead, get ahead of the curve by setting aside a serious budget to support your digital security efforts and improve your recovery response time.
Testing Your Training
Rather than assuming your training program works, run your team through regular tests to simulate breaches and refine your response. You can use simple software, like Microsoft’s Attack Simulation program, to identify shortcomings and reeducate staff who get caught in mock phishing schemes or malware attacks.
Regulating testing your defense helps you keep cybersecurity top-of-mind for busy employees. Share the results of the tests and simulated attacks with your team and take the time to show folks where they went wrong. This will also help you trial-run a recovery plan should your mock breach catch folks unaware.
Creating a Recovery Plan
If you do fall victim to a cybersecurity breach, you need to respond as quickly as possible lest you lose even more valuable information. This means you must have a response plan in place to mitigate risk and bounce back quickly. Core elements of an effective IT disaster recovery plan include:
- Identifying critical systems that must be protected to maintain continuity
- Establishing clear recovery objectives to ensure your team is working on the most important challenges first
- Creating and implementing failover systems
- Crafting communications for internal and external stakeholders to explain the issue
- Implementing testing and re-testing to ensure the recovery plan has been a success
Mastering your recovery plan before a breach occurs is key. Every employee should be aware of common threats to your business and should be aware of the next steps when a breach occurs. This improves communication, streamlines your response, and helps you get back to normal operations quicker. Lastly, it’s essential to make sure all employees are digitally literate and don’t fall prey to misinformation amplified by AI. Teach them how to separate fact from fiction when it comes to cybersecurity threats so that they know what to look for.
Conclusion
Educating your team to better understand the threats you face is crucial if you want to run a resilient business. Preparing for the inevitable threats you face will help you bounce back quickly should a malicious actor gain access to your firm’s sensitive data. Just be sure to test and retest regularly, as new threats are constantly emerging.
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