Cybersecurity may seem like the exclusive domain of the largest corporations out there, as they’re the ones that hold a lot of data. However, research shows that businesses of all sizes can be targeted by attacks, with small and medium-sized enterprises often being more likely to become the victims of hackers and data breaches due to their limited number of resources that can be allocated to cybersecurity. However, as more and more processes move online, and digital footprints broaden and deepen, it has become imperative to protect the well-being of your business.
Recent studies show that 94% of business owners consider cybersecurity to be a priority for their business, an essential feature in the absence of which their operation can’t function properly. The rise of cyberthreats and the fact that attacks are increasingly sophisticated and difficult to predict have made many businesses feel as if they’re racing against invisible enemies. If you’ve been thinking about improving your own cybersecurity policies, here are a few of the things you should take into account.
Manage Access
To ensure your data is safe and secure, you must invest in adequate training for all your employees. This doesn’t mean that everyone should have expert skills when it comes to cybersecurity, but they should be able to recognize threats and respond to them in an adequate manner. An employee could be the first to spot the tell-tale signs of a data breach, such as changes to important files, slow devices and internet, fake antivirus warnings, suspicious toolbars, random messages, or locked accounts. If that’s the case, they need to know how to act depending on your predetermined response plans.
It’s also not necessary for every employee to have full access to all the information and documents you work with; only those they need to complete their tasks. Managing data on personal devices is much more important today than it used to be a few years ago, as well as due to the growing number of employees who choose to work from home. Having a separate device and even a separate Wi-Fi connection for your work endeavors would be ideal, but the truth is that’s not feasible for most workers. Having a separate business email, on the other hand, is an absolute must.
A specialized tool will allow you to filter out any spam that might try to find its way into your inbox, automate forwarding and replies, integrate with other co-workers to make the workflow more seamless, and manage calendars more efficiently. Lastly, the simple fact that your personal and professional digital ecosystems don’t mix protects both from attacks that could occur from the other side.
Widening Access
Technology and its continuous development and innovation have meant that business owners must always look for ways to keep up with the latest shifts and challenges. Defending critical infrastructure, broader and more comprehensive efforts of tackling cybercrime, and raising awareness about the risks are expected to become increasingly important over the next few years. As such, cybersecurity will be less about pure defense and about accepting the threat of cybercrime and focusing on the capacity for resilience and recovery instead. The truth is that as artificial intelligence continues to evolve, it will most likely be used to come up with threats that are increasingly difficult to prevent. As such, the right solutions will be focused on minimizing the fallout and negative effects of a potential attack.
It might sound quite pessimistic, but research shows that customers trust institutions and businesses much less than they used to as far as their data is concerned. The growing incidence of cyberattacks and data breaches is naturally to blame, as is the fact that many enterprises revealed themselves to be unprepared to defend themselves in the face of the onslaught. Distrust is a problem, as it can lead to a retreat from cooperation, both on the regional and global scales, an unpleasant scenario that should be avoided.
Threat Trends
The rise of new technologies is, unfortunately, not only good news for people and companies, but for hackers as well. Many of them make their work easier and much more efficient as well. For instance, on-demand access to cloud computing resources increases complexity levels and increases the likelihood of cloud misconfigurations. Improperly secured APIs can also be exploited by cybercriminals. The use of multi-cloud environments introduces risks related to identity access management, fragmented security, as well as human error.
The many devices connected via the Internet of Things can be hijacked by malicious actors very easily, especially since many of them might not be properly secured. Policies such as bring-your-own-device and remote work bring more devices to the mix that must all be safeguarded to avoid issues for the entire network. This can put a strain on resources and security teams alike, leading to less effective measures and procedures. Lastly, artificial intelligence, which has been so amply discussed over the last couple of years, is a double-edged sword itself.
While it has the potential to drive innovation in sectors such as healthcare, transportation, and even cybersecurity, it has also led to unfortunate developments in cybercrime. The software can be trained for illicit purposes, and there’s an enduring lack of clarity on how companies and governments can ensure the systems are built and deployed so that they are utilized in a safe and ethical manner.
The cybersecurity skills gap
The cybersecurity skills gap refers to the disparity between the number of available professionals and the number of roles required for the job to be done efficiently. Some estimates indicate that there’s a gap of around 5 million skilled professionals worldwide, and the shortages are directly correlated with an increase in the number of data breaches. The adoption of new technologies has the downside of creating new risks as well, requiring skill sets to be developed faster. The additional pressure placed on cybersecurity professionals causes them to take on much larger workloads, leading to burnout and, in turn, measures that are much less adequate.
Closing the skills gap is an absolute must, and resource-strained teams will most likely have to move to security technologies driven by advanced analytics and automation as a means of strengthening their cyber defenses.
To summarize, the world of cybersecurity continues to change and evolve, and business owners will have no choice but to keep up with it if they want to guarantee the well-being and integrity of their processes.