Fast food is suitable for relieving short-term hunger pangs. It's not necessarily good for you; You shouldn't consume it constantly, but it fills the void. However, in the long run it will cause you more harm than good. Out-of-the-box cybersecurity offerings that come for free with software platforms are similar to fast food; It's a quick fix for a minor or isolated problem, but it's not good for the overall health of the IT landscape.
Free cybersecurity software promotes a false sense of adequate protection. This erroneous notion of sufficient network defense can have devastating consequences, as out-of-the-box cybersecurity tools do not facilitate efficient monitoring. Adequate protection against cyber threats requires better hardening all potential attack vectors. What is the antidote to this recipe for failure? The answer is to develop a thoughtful IT security strategy process that includes ongoing collaboration and conversation with an attitude of continuous improvement.
Cybersecurity is a journey, not a destination
A path to adequate security requires the collaboration of all stakeholders, including IT staff, security teams, audit professionals, and compliance experts, to identify control weaknesses. Discovering control weaknesses often reveals undocumented and disorganized aspects within the organization. Once deficiencies are identified, new responsibilities, processes and policies can be established to promote a safer environment.
Furthermore, a successful journey to security begins by establishing a well-defined baseline. The baseline describes the optimal state for secure operations and configurations. It resembles a pyramid with a broad base that synthesizes external and internal requirements and insights from third-party recommendations. The core of the pyramid is an organization's culture, values, and unique problem-solving approaches. The conceptual level is at the top of the inverted pyramid and encompasses access control, data security, and application security. These concepts form the basis of the security baseline.
It is important to note that constant communication is required to ensure success once the baseline has been established.
Director of Product Management at SecurityBridge.
Hackers thrive on dysfunction; keep the conversations
As described above, the success of a security strategy is based on a broad awareness of the overall need to improve security, rather than individual approaches that address only the needs of particular departments. Constant discussions must be initiated with all stakeholders to ensure the longevity of adequate cybersecurity protection.
IT security is generally a comprehensive and multidimensional task with many ways to solve problems. Regular conversations about an IT security strategy allow different stakeholders to share their specific knowledge and experiences to gain a common understanding and promote the longevity of a successful plan. Additionally, ongoing conversations bring stakeholders on the same page, allowing them to align all activities to protect the entire organization, rather than reverting to a siled departmental mindset.
Departmental budget holders and IT security experts are the main people who should be involved in any cybersecurity conversation. The unified voices of these people are critical, as many C-Suite members are often overconfident that their IT environments are not on any hacker's radar. In many cases, inadequate funding leaves IT security administrators the only owners advocating for network hardening. But unified representation from all departments pushing for stronger protection often persuades the registry to sound in their favor.
A one-day workshop should be held at a neutral location to understand all cybersecurity concerns of stakeholders. The meeting will allow stakeholders to brainstorm the best measures to address enterprise-wide security needs, which is a crucial step in solving complex cybersecurity problems. Upon conclusion of the initial workshop, follow-up conversations should be held quarterly, allowing stakeholders to review progress and adapt to new situations. The workshop and ongoing conversations should:
- Create transparency around business-critical data, applications and systems.
- Identify the use and external exposure of business-critical data.
- Define appropriate data security measures and a strategic execution plan.
- Establish best practices for strengthening/protecting networks, systems and applications.
- Align all stakeholders with a clear cybersecurity roadmap, appropriate for today's needs but agile enough to address tomorrow's problems.
- Ensure sufficient budget to effectively reduce attack vectors, train employees, and continually validate procedures.
Conclusion
The path to adequate cybersecurity is a collaborative effort that involves various organizational stakeholders. Organizations can identify and address control weaknesses by bringing together IT staff, security teams, audit professionals, and compliance experts to discuss methods to establish a more secure environment.
Ongoing discussions are needed with all stakeholders to share their knowledge and experiences, fostering common understanding and alignment of activities to protect the entire organization. Leveraging mutual consensus will also help free up the funds needed to support appropriate cybersecurity efforts to protect business-critical information.
Most importantly, IT professionals should avoid using off-the-shelf cybersecurity software. Rudimentary protection is no defense against well-funded hackers with superior knowledge to easily bypass free cybersecurity software. Ensuring adequate protection is not a nice prize at the end of the box; It is a comprehensive process that involves many technologies, strategies and tools. Cybersecurity is never a one-size-fits-all solution that can be consumed quickly like fast food, and those who rely on out-of-the-box security methods will inevitably experience heartburn.
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