How To Develop A Cyber Security Practice

The potential business revenue opportunity from rising compliance requirements and security threats is hard to ignore. 

The increasing press coverage of ransomware attacks and fines for non-compliance is driving awareness and urgency. Even the slow adopter business owners and managers know something needs to be done to limit their corporate risks and individual exposure, and time isn’t on their side.

What tools are necessary, how to integrate it into the IT services offering, how to market it? What are the best ways to go about developing sound cybersecurity policies and practices in 2020 that could be used for commercial gain as well as internal commercial security? 

Here are some recommendations:

1.Update Software and Systems
After Spectre struck in Jan 2018, Apple issued security fixes for its iOS 11 operating system This is no different from what other IT vendors do when they discover a security vulnerability. 
However, the rub for IT is making sure that the diversity of devices that are in the hands of users are all updated with the latest versions of a bevy of OSs.

This requires centralised policy making in IT that likely adopts a 'push' methodology, forcing new security updates onto a user's device when they connect to the network, instead of a 'pull' methodology, which notifies the user that a new security patch is available and gives them the option to load this new software when it's convenient.

2.Conduct Top-To-Bottom Security Audits
If your company hasn't already done so, it should conduct a thorough security audit of its IT assets and practices. 
This audit should review the security practices and policies of your central IT systems, as well as your end user departments and at the 'edges' of your enterprise, like the automated machines and IoT you might be employing at remote manufacturing plants. 

The audit should look not only at the software and hardware techniques you have in place to protect security but also at remote site personnel habits and compliance with security policies.
These audits should be carried out by an independent cyber-audit business that brings a clear understanding of cyber security to the business being audited, this would be similar to a Financial Audit and so it should also bring a certification of completion and security each year.

3.Don't Forget Social Engineering
As part of your end-to-end IT audit, you should include social engineering, which reviews whether your employees are demonstrating vulnerability when it comes to offering up confidential information
This social engineering can be as simple as someone shouting a password to a co-worker over an office partition, or it could be a user who pulls up a website at work and surrenders passwords or other vital information that ultimately gets into the wrong hands.

4.Demand Audits from Vendors and Business Partners
According to a report by Commvault and CITO Research more than 80 percent of companies see the cloud as integral to their technology. 

But with the move away from internal data centers, it's also become more important to demand regular IT audit reports from your vendors and business partners. Companies should have policies in place that require regular security audit reports from vendors they are considering before contracts are signed. Thereafter, vendors, as part of their SLAs, should be expected to deliver security audit reports on an annual basis.

5.Provide New and Continuing Security Education 
Cyber-security education should be a staple of every new employee orientation, with new employees signing off that they have read and understood the training.
On an annual basis, a refresher course in cyber-security practices should also be given to employee’s companywide. This ensures that security policies and practices stay fresh in employees' minds, and that they understand any policy additions or changes.

6.Watch the Edge
Manufacturing 4.0 and other remote computing strategies are moving computing away from data centers and out to the edges of companies. This means that a manufacturer with a remote plant in Ireland is likely to have manufacturing personnel operate automated robots and production analytics with local servers in the plant.

Software and hardware security must be maintained on these devices, but the devices must also be locally administered under accepted cybersecurity policies and procedures by personnel who are asked to do these jobs without an IT background. This is a security exposure point for the company and for IT that requires training of non-IT personnel in IT security policies and practices, as well as oversight by IT and auditors.

7.Perform Regular Data Backups that Work 
If your data is compromised or held hostage in a ransomware attack, a nightly data backup will at least enable you to roll back to the previous day's data with minimal loss. It’s a simple enough policy and practice to enact.
Unfortunately, a bigger problem for companies is not so much that they don't perform data backups, it's that the backups don't always work.

One of the most important cyber-security policies that corporate IT can put in place is a requirement that data backups and disaster recovery minimally be full-tested on an annual basis to ensure that everything is working properly. 

8.Physically Secure Your Information Assets
Even if software, hardware, and network security are in place, it doesn't help much if servers are left unsecured on manufacturing floors and in business units.Physical security, like a locked 'cage' for a server in a plant that is accessible only to personnel with security clearance, is vital. Security policies and practices should address the physical as well as the visual aspects of information.

9.Maintain Industry Compliance
Especially for companies in highly regulated industries like healthcare, insurance, and finance, regulatory compliance that concerns IT security should be closely adhered to.
Companies in these industries should annually review security compliance requirements and update their security policies and practices as needed.

10.Inform Your Board and CEO
A successful cybersecurity strategy is one where you never find yourself in front of the CEO or the board having to explain how a cyber breach happened and what you are doing to mitigate it. 
Unfortunately, great security systems are 'invisible', because they never give you problems.

This makes it important for CIOs, CSOs, and others with security responsibilities to clearly explain cybersecurity technologies, policies, and practices in plain language that the CEO, the Board, and other non-technical stakeholders can understand.

For more information about Cyber Security Audits please contact Cyber Security Intelligence.

Retail Insights:      Health IT Outcomes:      Retail Supply Chain Insights:     ECMConnection

You Might Also Read:

Digital Shock: The 4th Industrial Revolution:

Why An Effective Security Culture Is Essential For Your Organisation:

 

 

 

« Cyber Stocks Soaring From Conflict With Iran
Publishers Spread Fake News »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

ZenGRC

ZenGRC

ZenGRC - the first, easy-to-use, enterprise-grade information security solution for compliance and risk management - offers businesses efficient control tracking, testing, and enforcement.

Cyber Security Supplier Directory

Cyber Security Supplier Directory

Our Supplier Directory lists 6,000+ specialist cyber security service providers in 128 countries worldwide. IS YOUR ORGANISATION LISTED?

Jooble

Jooble

Jooble is a job search aggregator operating in 71 countries worldwide. We simplify the job search process by displaying active job ads from major job boards and career sites across the internet.

CYRIN

CYRIN

CYRIN® Cyber Range. Real Tools, Real Attacks, Real Scenarios. See why leading educational institutions and companies in the U.S. have begun to adopt the CYRIN® system.

LockLizard

LockLizard

Locklizard provides PDF DRM software that protects PDF documents from unauthorized access and misuse. Share and sell documents securely - prevent document leakage, sharing and piracy.

Privacy Professor

Privacy Professor

Privacy Professor provides information privacy, security and compliance services, tools and products to organizations in a wide range of industries.

Mocana

Mocana

Mocana provides a software platform that allows you to develop, test and distribute more secure IoT devices and services.

Cipher Tooth

Cipher Tooth

CipherTooth is a superior system for delivering secure content over the Internet.

Data Shepherd

Data Shepherd

Data Shepherds primary focus is to protect your business. We achieve this by offering extensive and unique expertise in innovative IT and Cyber security solutions.

FedRAMP

FedRAMP

FedRAMP, is a government-wide program that provides a standardized approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for cloud products and services.

Cyber Affairs

Cyber Affairs

Cyber Affairs is the first Italian press agency entirely dedicated to cyber security.

Carson & SAINT

Carson & SAINT

Carson & SAINT is an award-winning consulting firm with deep experience in cybersecurity technology, software, and management consulting.

Czech Accreditation Institute

Czech Accreditation Institute

Czech Accreditation Institute is the national accreditation body for the Czech Republic. The directory of members provides details of organisations offering certification services for ISO 27001.

Axiomtek

Axiomtek

Axiomtek is a leading design and manufacturing company in the industrial computer and embedded field.

Tehtris

Tehtris

TEHTRIS XDR Platform was developed to control and improve the IT security of private and public companies against advanced cyber threats such as cyber espionage or cyber sabotage activities.

Axis Security

Axis Security

Axis Security technologies transform open networks and vulnerable applications into fully protected resources that the business can trust.

PacketViper

PacketViper

PacketViper’s Deception360 actively defends networks with deception-based threat detection and automated response to both external and internal cyber threats.

Darktrace

Darktrace

Darktrace is a global leader in cybersecurity AI, delivering complete AI-powered solutions in its mission to free the world of cyber disruption.

Supra ITS

Supra ITS

Supra ITS is a leading full-service technology partner offering IT Consulting, Cloud Services, 24x7 Managed IT & Cybersecurity Services, and IT Project Support.

Colt Technology Services

Colt Technology Services

Colt Technology Services (Colt) is a global digital infrastructure company which creates extraordinary connections to help businesses succeed.

IONIX

IONIX

IONIX is the attack surface management solution that uses Connective Intelligence to shine a spotlight on exploitable risks across your real attack surface and its digital supply chain.