Did you know that it costs US organizations an average of $8.64 million to recover from a data breach? The frequency and severity of cyber-attacks are on the rise, so it’s more important than ever to have a comprehensive cybersecurity plan in place.
Two main steps are needed to help you organize and prepare for a data breach.
Create a Structure
Develop policies and procedures for protecting your information assets along with a plan for preventing and responding to cyber-attacks.
Create a document with details like risk assessment, recovery, a contingency plan, and an evaluation of your current security measures to gauge its effectiveness.
Train your workforce
The next logical step is to train your employees on protecting themselves and your organization from cyber threats. Employees are often the first line of defense against attacks, so make sure they understand how to recognize and avoid phishing scams, for instance.
Having a comprehensive cybersecurity plan in place can help your organization protect itself from cyber-attacks and the costly consequences of data breaches.
Wondering how to create a cybersecurity plan? Following are some tips.
A Defense In-Depth Strategy:
You may have heard of the term “defense-in-depth.” This cybersecurity strategy involves deploying multiple layers of security controls to protect your organization from cyber threats.
This strategy is beneficial for combating advanced threats, which are becoming more and more common. Advanced threats can include things like ransomware, malware, and phishing attacks.
There are several ways to implement a defense-in-depth strategy. For example, you can deploy various firewalls at each layer of your network infrastructure, which will help protect against breaches by malicious parties who exploit various vulnerabilities.
You can also train your employees and encourage them to enroll in an online masters program in Cybersecurity to keep up with the latest trends and deploy security solutions to protect your endpoints.
In addition, Endpoint protection software can also help detect and prevent malware from spreading to devices in your organization. Using an in-depth defense strategy can better protect your organization from the increasing number of advanced threats.
Stay Up To Date On The Latest Security Threats.
It’s essential to stay up to date on the latest security threats so that you can take appropriate steps to protect your organization.
Subscribe to newsletters and other mailing lists from reputable sources such as the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) and SANS. You can also follow them on social media for timely updates.
Ensure that you’re testing your organization’s cybersecurity plan regularly to ensure that it remains effective and that all employees follow it. Your organization should also use a third-party cybersecurity solution to regularly scan its systems and networks for vulnerabilities, malware, and other threats.
How to Reinforce Your Network’s Security:
There are many things you can do to reinforce the security of your organization’s network. One of the most important is to deploy a comprehensive security solution and protect your network from various threats, including malware, viruses, and ransomware.
Updating your devices with the latest security patches and ensuring your network is patched is an excellent idea to remain protected.
Another critical step is to deploy a web application firewall (WAF) on your organization’s website. It will protect you from a wide range of cyber threats, including SQL injection attacks and cross-site scripting attacks.
The WAF will also prevent your website from being used as a springboard for launching other types of cyberattacks.
Monitor Your Network To Detect Suspicious Behavior.
Your organization should monitor its network at all times to detect any suspicious activity. Network monitoring software will help your organization detect unusual activity, such as attempted intrusions and unauthorized access attempts. The monitoring software can also help your organization identify bottlenecks and devices consuming more bandwidth than usual.
When looking for suspicious behavior on your network, check storage locations for an unfamiliar cache of websites from recent searches and online browsing you don’t recognize.
Centralize Your Security Policy.
Keeping all of your organization’s cybersecurity policies in one place will make it easier for employees to follow them. You can use a cloud-based security solution that offers this capability or deploy a security information and event management (SIEM) solution.
A SIEM will help you collect data from your organization’s different security systems and enable you to manage compliance, patch management, and security incidents.
Organizations of all sizes need to have a cybersecurity plan. The first step is to create a list of potential risks affecting your organization. These will determine which security policies you should put in place.
You should also identify the individuals in your organization responsible for each part of the cybersecurity plan to help ensure everyone is aware of their role and can carry it out effectively.
Manage Access Level Information For Different Users:
Your organization should identify which users can access different assets and resources. It’s essential to have a robust procedure for managing each user’s different access levels. This will help ensure that only authorized users can access these assets and resources and prevent threats from within your organization.
Your organization should also implement a two-factor authentication system to strengthen its network’s security to help protect your systems from unauthorized access attempts.
Finally, it’s essential to test your cybersecurity system and plan regularly to help ensure that the plan will work as expected if a cyber threat arises. It will help run drills periodically to test your organization’s abilities.
Organizations of all sizes need to have a cybersecurity plan in place.
Final Words:
Cyber threats are on the rise, and organizations need to do everything to protect themselves. It isn’t surprising to see Cybersecurity as a trending topic in today’s world and becoming a significant concern for business owners.
Since cybercriminals are always looking at new ways to penetrate security measures and steal confidential data, creating a cybersecurity plan is crucial for protecting your organization. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can create a plan that will help keep your organization’s data safe.