Talking about cyber security and the issues faced in this sector are not as easy to deal with as it requires much more safety as compared to general security.
Regardless of years of investment in several layers of security defenses, every organization is still wide open to targeted attacks. It is practically impossible to stop all possible attacks, regardless of having the Next Generation Firewalls.
A required escalation in cyber defense would include redefining security analytics which is the application of security intelligence to large data sets.
Cyber security is a vital concern for every organization. Daily occurrences demonstrate the risk posed by cyber attackers—from individual, opportunistic
hackers, to professional and organized groups of cyber criminals with strategies,
for systematically stealing intellectual property and disturbing business. The management of any organization deals with the task of ensuring that its organization understands the risks and sets the right priorities.
This is no easy task in terms of the technical jargon involved and the pace of change. Keeping the focus only on technology to address these issues is not enough. Effectively managing cyber risk means having the right governance being put in place and the right supporting processes, along with the right enabling technology.
This complexity, however, cannot be an excuse used by company management to dissociate from responsibility to technical “experts.” It is crucial for the leaders to take control of allocating resources to deal with cyber security, actively manage governance and decision making over cyber security, and build an informed and knowledgeable organizational culture.
The amount of data continues to grow exponentially, so does the rate at which organizations share data through online networks. Billions of machines including tablets, smartphones, ATM machines, security installations, environmental control systems, thermostats and much more are all linked together, increasing
inter-dependencies a great deal.
Organizations increasingly open their IT systems to a wide range of machines and lose direct control of data security. Adding to that business continuity, both in society and within companies, is increasingly dependent on IT. Disruption to these core processes can have a major impact on service availability. Cyber are very aware of these vulnerabilities.
Not all organizations are necessarily easy targets for cyber criminals. For instance, a small or midsized company has a very different risk profile than a multinational organization. What is true for any government or organization is that cyber crime risks can be controlled. Cyber criminals are not invincible geniuses, and while they can cause real damage to your business, you can take precautionary steps to protect your company against them. You may not be able to achieve a complete hundred percent security, but by treating cyber security as “business as usual” and balancing investment between risks and potential impacts, your organization will be well prepared to tackle with cyber crime. Organizations can reduce the risks to their business by building up capabilities in three critical areas – prevention, detection and response.
Prevention begins with governance and organization. It is about installing fundamental measures, including placing responsibility for dealing with cyber crime within the organization and developing awareness training for key staff.
By the detection through monitoring of critical events and incidents, an organization can strengthen its technological detection measures. Monitoring and data mining together form an excellent instrument to detect strange patterns in data traffic, to find the location on which the attacks focus and to observe system performance.
Lastly response refers to activating a well-rehearsed plan as soon as the red light for a possible attack occurs. During an attack, the organization should be able to directly deactivate all technology affected. When developing a response and recovery plan, an organization should perceive cyber security as a continuous process and not as a problem to be care of just this time.
In conclusion, the development of a strategic, customized and comprehensive cyber security program will help you avoid five common cyber security mistakes:
- We have to achieve 100 percent security.
- When we invest in best-of-class technical tools, we are safe.
- Our weapons have to be better than those of the hackers.
- Cyber security compliance is all about effective monitoring.
- We need to recruit the best professionals to defend ourselves from cyber crime.
Stay alert, stay focused.
