In 2018, prominent companies such as British Airways, Quora, and Orbitz were targeted by cyber criminals. The high-profile cyber attacks compromised the companies' and the client's personal information. Subsequently, in 2019 the number of cyber attacks skyrocketed by 350%, while spear-phishing increased by 70%. The security posture of these companies can tell us a lot about why this happened.
Arguably, no organization is immune to these attacks as cyber criminals exploit any security vulnerabilities to gain access to the business's data. To effectively combat the sophisticated threats, you must abandon conventional security methods and adopt intelligent strategies that closely monitor your systems. It is imperative to implement security posture methods to protect your data and network.
What is Security Posture?
Security posture primarily measures your business's cybersecurity strength and how flexible it is to prevent and address future security attacks. Mainly, it evaluates the overall security of business assets:
Software
Hardware
Information
Services
Network
Your business is currently looking at a myriad of security threats; thus, better preparedness is intrinsic. The strategies should address security threats and find instant remedial action in case of any attacks. A good system should incorporate the following:
Controls that enable real-time assessment of hidden threats and diligent isolation of affected software or hardware.
Proper management of your incorporated defenses.
Smart strategies to recover from any security threat.
Conceptual Framework of Your Business Security System
Cyber attacks and cyber security posture have an inverse relationship. As your business adopts a robust safety standard, your cyber threats consequently decrease. Although adopting stringent security measures is not a silver bullet for data breaches. Due to the multifold increase in attack vectors, you must include the following concepts in your framework:
Accurate Inventory of Your IT Assets
IT assets comprise a wide array of items including; cloud assets, on-premises assets, mobile, and all 3rd party assets. All infrastructure and applications are also categorized as IT assets. Inventory of all IT assets is intrinsic to evaluate the probability of breach and should adhere to the following steps:
Proper categorization of assets by clearly identifying geolocation, address, status, or users of the assets.
Ensure all assets are licensed and have updated software. Additionally, you should identify the criticality of each asset to the business. The most critical assets are more susceptible to adversary attacks.
Correct monitoring of the assets to assess the risk profile of each asset. All assets which are no longer useful need to be decommissioned, to minimize fraudsters targeting them.
Are Your Current Security Methods Effective?
Most businesses incorporate multi-factor authentication, two-factor authentication, firewalls, or email phishing techniques to make their systems immune to cyber criminals breaches. However, it is inherent to note that the security methods may become defective, and upgrading to more robust methods is paramount.
Assess the security methods deployed and investigate whether they are accurately managing defenses. You should also investigate if the measures are minimizing cyber risks in your business.
What are the Existing Attack Vectors?
Attack vectors are methods that cyber criminals use to infiltrate your system or network. Most adversaries use ransomware and malware to target your network. Consequently, they can use compromised credentials or employees' vulnerabilities to gain access to your personal data.
Attack vectors primarily target any weaknesses in the infrastructure or employees. It would be best if you were proactive in the business dynamic environment to ensure your employees are updated with recent security measures. Also, regular updating of your systems and incorporation of robust security methods are essential.
What are the Best Strategies to Improve Your Security Posture?
Your business must adopt a robust cyber security system that will enable a hassle-free detection of any system intrusions. There are numerous smart practices you can implement to improve your business security strategies.
1. Training your Employees Smart Security Practices
Untrained employees can expose your business to an innumerable number of cyber risks. Prioritizing training your employees minimizes internal and external cyber attacks. Each employee, despite their level of management, should have security literacy. To ensure your employees are up to date with new intelligent security methods, conduct frequent testing.
2. Adopt Automated Security Solutions
Automation is key when mitigating cyber threats in your organization. Automated security solutions assist in the monitoring of your network systems. The systems allow the monitoring of real-time data on systems and responding appropriately. The IT teams can respond to cyberattacks instantly and track data metrics more straightforwardly. Typically, the automated solutions are integral in an organization and enable close monitoring of systems and early detection of data breaches.
3. Have a Well-formulated Response Plan
After a data breach occurs in your business, you need to have a proactive response plan. Establish a robust response team that will guide your organization after a cyber attack. The aftermath of cyber attacks is disastrous and how you respond determines the extent of the effects.
Essentially, security systems are not static and change depending on technology advancements. Updating your response plans is crucial to adopt new changes in the dynamic business models. Consider changing your response plan annually for better results.
4. Incorporate Security Metrics
To track the security effectiveness of your business, incorporate security metrics practices. It is possible to identify ways to minimize risks in your business and diligently establish future risk management. The efficacy of the installed metrics programs depends heavily on how efficiently your employees can adopt them in the organization.
How can Magnataur Help Improve Your Security Posture?
Undeniably, no business is immune to the prevalent cyber attacks and data breaches. Incorporating defensive measures and robust cybersecurity systems minimize the rate of these incidences. Our tech executives at Magnataur have a comprehensive understanding of how to apply bleeding edge cyber security solutions for your business's most dynamic security concerns and will guide you through the process.
Our security solutions consist of systems that continuously monitor your data and ensure your cyber health is great. We are also proactive in identifying high-risk areas within your organization and providing the best analytics for your systems. We also assess your third-party groups to investigate if there exists any vulnerability. Contact us for amicable standard safety strategies for your business.