A Case of “Many Hands, Make Light Work”

Don’t Worry, Be Happy

Business leaders are often faced with unique concerns and anxieties. It is not surprising that business leaders are under immense pressure, especially when they add the cybersecurity challenges to their list. To build a resilient strategy, it is important to understand and address these concerns. 

The Anxiety: Cybersecurity is a concern for business leaders. Business leaders worry about the possible ramifications from data breaches, loss of trust by customers, and financial consequences that could follow. Cyber threats are increasing in sophistication and frequency, which is why many people are concerned.

Empathy: Empathy is a powerful tool for understanding the worries that keep business leaders up at night. We gain valuable insight by putting ourselves in their shoes.

Prioritizing: Leadership is pivotal in ensuring that cybersecurity is a priority. The culture of an organization must include cybersecurity. It’s not only about allocating resources and hiring experts. Every employee in an organization should understand their role in protecting sensitive data and the assets of the company.

Communication: Communication that is clear and precise can help address the concerns of leadership. Instead of bombarding them with complex reports or technical jargon, give concise insight into the current state of cybersecurity in the organization. This allows leaders to make informed choices without being overwhelmed by technical details.

Collaborative Efforts: Cybersecurity is a responsibility shared by all departments within an organization. All departments must work together to achieve this. Leaders in business need to promote this collaboration and foster a culture that makes cybersecurity a shared concern.

Continuous Learning: Encouragement should be given to business leaders to continue their professional development and learning in cybersecurity. It will not only improve their understanding, but will also reinforce the importance of cybersecurity in the organization.

Taking a Proactive Approach: It is not enough to wait for a cyber breach and then react to it. This involves a proactive strategy, which anticipates potential threats and mitigates risks before they escalate. This approach eases the anxiety of business leaders, by showing that their organization has been well prepared.

Don’t Let Your Guard Down

False senses of security can be a trap that organizations fall into, and this can lead to disastrous consequences.

Overestimating the effectiveness and efficiency of security tools and controls is a common mistake. No security tool or control is perfect and attackers are always finding new ways to circumvent them.

Underestimating vulnerabilities and failing to assess risk profiles properly can lead to the focus on less important security risks while ignoring more critical ones.

Attackers are not constrained by the same limitations as organizations. They have the resources and time to create their own techniques, tactics, and procedures for a particular target. It is important that organizations are prepared for the worst-case scenario, and have a plan to deal with a cyberattack.

Fail Fast, Fail Often

At the heart of a cybersecurity strategy, this best practice should be followed and will entail the following:

Risk Assessment

• Identify and prioritize cybersecurity risks.
• Use a risk assessment framework to identify and assess cybersecurity risks.
• Conduct risk assessments on a regular basis, at least annually.
  • Identifying potential threats and their likelihood of occurrence
  • Evaluating the impact of a successful attack on the organization
  • Assessing the effectiveness of existing security controls
• Include IT, security, and business leaders in the risk assessment process.
• Use an audit framework to assess the effectiveness of security controls.
• Conduct audits on a regular basis, at least annually.

Policies and Controls

Once the risk assessment has been completed, develop, and implement policies and controls to mitigate those risks.

Incident Response & Recover

While the objective is to prevent cyberattacks, being prepared for when they occur is equally vital. Incident response plan simulations are a lifeline in case of a breach. These simulations mimic real-world scenarios, helping to practice responses and assessing the effectiveness of the incident response plan.

As the saying goes, “perfect practice makes perfect” but this can only be achieved by taking a pause to evaluate the response strategy. It is during these moments that processes, identified bottlenecks, and improvement in coordination among stakeholders are fine-tune. The more realistic the simulation, the better prepared everyone involved will be when a real incident strikes.

Continuous Improvement

It goes without saying, cybersecurity is a never-ending battle, and new threats are endlessly unfolding. To stay ahead of threats, organizations must adopt a mindset of continuous improvement. This can be achieved by:

• Regularly reviewing cybersecurity strategy to ensure that it is aligned with the organization’s goals and objectives.
• Monitor the threat landscape for new threats and vulnerabilities.
• Make updates to the cybersecurity strategy as needed to address new threats and vulnerabilities.

Two Heads are Better than One

One way to build a robust cybersecurity strategy is to turn to established frameworks. Two of the most popular cybersecurity frameworks are NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) and ISO 27001.

To build a strong cybersecurity strategy, turn to established frameworks for guidance. NIST Cybersecurity Framework and ISO 27001 are two of the most popular frameworks for cybersecurity.

NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF):

The CSF is built on three components, which provide a common language that organizations can use to manage and reduce cyber risks.

The Core is an array of five functions which describe the cybersecurity activities organizations should undertake to manage and reduce risks. The five functions include: Identifying, Protecting, Detecting, Responding, and Recovering.

• Identify: Use this function to understand assets, risks, and vulnerabilities. The goal is to get a clear view of the organization’s assets.
• Protect: After identifying assets, use the Protect function to implement safeguards that will protect the business. This includes data security, access control and employee training.
• Detect: This function focuses on the continuous monitoring of cybersecurity incidents and their rapid detection. 
• Respond: A well-prepared organisation should be able respond quickly and effectively to a cyber incident. This function helps create an incident response strategy and plan to minimize the impact.
• Recover: The final function that helps plan for a quick recovery after a cyber-attack. This involves returning systems, data, and services to their normal operation.

The Implementation Tiers describe how well Core functions have been implemented. The four tiers are: Partial, Risk-Informed or informed by risk, Repeatable and Adaptive. The latter represents the highest level of conformity with the implementation.

Profiles: These are self-assessments which can be used as a way to compare the organization cybersecurity posture with the CSF.

ISO 27001

ISO 27001 is an international standard that offers a systematized approach to securely managing sensitive data. It may not provide the same level detail as the NIST Framework, but it is still highly regarded around the world.

ISO 27001 (27001:2013 being the latest version) is based on a Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle (PDCA), which can be adapted for different organizations. This is how it works.

• Plan: Identify the information security risks in the organization and create a framework for addressing them.
• Do: Implement all security measures and controls outlined in in the plan. This step involves putting cybersecurity plan into action.
• Check: Monitor and review security procedures regularly to ensure that they are effective and correct any shortcomings.
• Act: Corrective actions should be taken based on the monitoring and reviewing. Adjustment to the strategy or improve security measures may be required.

Innovative to Dominate

Long gone are the days of entirely hinging on reactive security measures. Attackers are innovating their methods and tools used for an attack. For example,

AI can amplify automate phishing and social engineering at scale

Build detailed profiles to enable personalized attacks, based on individuals’ online activities, behaviours, preferences, etc.

As such, cybersecurity strategies require new ways of thinking that takes a more proactive and innovative approach by using AI and machine learning algorithms that can analyse massive datasets in real-time. The aim is to:

• Improved threat detection that can help detect threats and respond more quickly.
• Reduced Security risks by a significant amount by preventing attacks and detecting them early.
• Automating security tasks to improve efficiency and productivity.

Deception Techniques allow for a proactive strategy by deceiving attackers, and identifying anomalies. It involves the use of traps and false information to lure and confuse cyber adversaries. Valuable insight can be gain into tactics, enabling threats to be mitigated even before they reach the actual systems.

Behavioural Analytics involves analysing and monitoring the behaviour of users in the network. This can help detect unusual patterns and identify potential insider threats. AI and machine-learning (AI and ML), algorithms can be used to establish a baseline for normal activities and block actions when deviations are detected.

Friends with Benefits

Trust & piece of mind is the foundation for any successful business. It is not just required from customers but also from partners, vendors, and stakeholders. When clients know their data is secured, they feel more at ease doing business. This leads to loyalty, and loyal customers are more likely to recommend others use these business services, which implies long-term success due to improved brand reputation, more business opportunities, and a better competitive advantage.

While no solution eliminates risk, thoughtful cybersecurity planning demonstrates preparedness and resilience. It shows a willingness to invest in protecting information and technology infrastructure and sends a message that cyber risk management is a top priority for an organization.

How Can ITM Help You?

IT Minister covers all aspects of Cyber Security including but not limited to Home cyber Security Managed Solutions to automated, Manage Threat Intelligence, Digital Forensic Investigations, Penetration Testing, Mobile Device Management, Cloud Security Best Practice & Secure Architecture by Design and Cyber Security Training. Our objective is to support organisations and consumers at every step of their cyber maturity journey. Contact Us for more information.