Organizations are increasingly concerned about cybersecurity risks and with good reason. Risks are constantly changing; take this last year, for example, the pandemic lockdown meant many knowledge workers went remote, which in turn increased the vulnerability of remote desktop services by 40%, saw criminals targeting end-users, and caused phishing and ransomware scams to boom.
And then there’s the bottom line. The average cost of a data breach is $3.61 million, according to Ponemon’s Cost of a Data Breach report. That in itself is quite an incentive to reduce cybersecurity risk.
What is cybersecurity risk?
Risk, at its most basic, is the acknowledgment that something bad can happen to your organization. In the case of cybersecurity risk, it’s the acknowledgment that cybercriminals might either launch an attack on your organization or take advantage of a vulnerability in your network or organization, such as an employee’s negligence or weakness in your security controls.
How can you reduce cybersecurity risk?
It’s important to note that you cannot reduce all cybersecurity risk, but you can mitigate risk by taking some important steps to secure your data, networks, and devices against risks from outside your organization and vulnerabilities inside your extended ecosystem.
- Know your risks: As we mentioned earlier, risks are always changing. Do you know what the biggest cybersecurity risks that might affect your organization are right now? It’s important to keep an eye on trends in risks, and on which threats are affecting companies like yours — if bad actors are attacking companies in a certain way, it’s only a matter of time before they attack you.
- Be compliant: Many organizations have to abide by frameworks or standards that offer specific requirements for cybersecurity. These vary by industry and geographical area, but it’s a good starting point for mitigating risk. Know which regulations and standards apply to your organization and follow them.
- Create strong security policies: You want to make sure that everyone in your organization takes the same approach to cyber risk management, so creating policies and procedures that everyone must follow is an essential step in mitigating risk. You may even choose an independent security framework to follow. That way, even if you’re not in a highly regulated industry, you have a list of controls and actions to take to minimize your risk.
- Install patches promptly: Criminals know when patches are released, and they also know that not all companies install patches promptly. They’re counting on the vulnerabilities of an unpatched system to allow them into your system through software bugs and other vulnerabilities.
- Back up your data: One of the worst things about attacks — especially ransomware attacks — is that your data is locked away or stolen. By backing up everything, you can ensure you still have your data (even if a criminal also has it.)
- Protect remote workers: Remote work can mean vulnerabilities in your network that bad actors can take advantage of. Make sure workers are securely logging in, and that any worker who is connecting to critical systems or data is using a VPN for added security.
- Educate your team: Security is everyone’s responsibility, so make sure your workers understand cyber hygiene and best practices for securing data. They should also be aware that they’re often a target of criminals. Teach them about social engineering scams like phishing attacks and ransomware so they can protect themselves and your organization by not clicking on suspicious links or downloads.
- Use secure authentication: Passwords are one of the most used, but least secure forms of user authentication. Even now, the most common password worldwide is 123456. Don’t let your users pick their own passwords with no guidelines. If you use passwords, require strong passwords. You may even choose to use multi-factor identification (MFA), single sign-on (SSO), or passwordless authentication to secure your data.
- Embrace encryption: Sensitive data should be encrypted so that if an attacker does breach your system, they won’t be able to use the information they find. You should be encrypting all data stored in the cloud as well — you don’t want someone without the appropriate permission to just be able to read your data.
- Segment the network: When every device, application, and user is connected to one giant network, problems can happen — especially if vendors, suppliers, and customers are logging in, as well as employees. By segmenting your network, you can limit the access of vendors and customers, and keep your most sensitive data behind additional firewalls.
- Make a response plan: Do you know what will happen if a ransomware attack gets through your defenses? What about lost data or devices? By creating a plan for attacks ahead of time, you can respond quickly and efficiently when an attack or breach occurs.
- Shut it down: Ever hear of a kill switch? If an attack occurs, sometimes the best way to prevent damage from spreading from one system to another is to shut everything down; take down websites, and shut off access to servers.
- Don’t forget your third parties: Your employees aren’t the only people with access to your data and networks. Often third parties, like vendors, suppliers, and partners also have access to your systems and that can be a problem; criminals often target third parties as a way to get at their clients’ data. Make sure you know who your vendors are, and appropriately vet them.
- Use anti-malware software: While anti-malware software and anti-ransomware software won’t catch every instance of malware coming into your system, it will provide a layer of defense by filtering out the most common malware.
- Continuously monitor your organization’s cyberhealth: It’s not enough to check your security posture every once in a while; you need to constantly keep an eye out for risks, vulnerabilities, and any potential threats that might come your way. By using smart tools that alert you when you fall out of compliance, or when criminals are chatting about your organization online, you can protect yourself quickly by fixing holes in your security controls.
How can SecurityScorecard help?
Security ratings are an important way to monitor your organization’s cybersecurity risk in real-time. Our security ratings are based on an A-F scoring scale that quickly shows you where vulnerabilities have been detected and which need to be prioritized first. Our ratings cover a variety of security factors, like endpoint security, network vulnerabilities, and patching cadence. By being able to identify your organization’s weaknesses at a glance, you can keep your networks and data safe and secure.
