Fighting off cyber-attacks is a never-ending battle in the corporate world. It is a battle that puts constant pressure on financial and human resources. That pressure only gets worse because of the feeling that hackers have the upper hand and are always one step ahead. And that feeling is reinforced by the fact that hackers carry out zero-day attacks. Zero-day attacks are cyber-attacks that occur on the same day as when a leak gets discovered in software. Is your cyber security ready for this?
Dependence on technology and cyber threats increases
The increasing dependence on technology puts us at greater risk due to the devices that give us access to everything we need when working remotely. We know that this way of working makes us more efficient and productive, but working remotely also increases cyber threats. We provide cybercriminals with more opportunities to access corporate networks.
Working safe and secure for 100% doesn’t exist
We must realise that cyber risks will always be present. On the other hand, there are some steps we can take to prevent attacks or to limit their impact if they do occur.
You can't keep abreast of all threats. Determine what poses the greatest danger to you and design your cyber risk management system accordingly. These great dangers could be about confidential business information or transactional data. Assess all areas of the business for risks and focus security measures on the most vulnerable areas. Make sure you protect the information that is of great value for your organisation.
Cyber strategy
Protecting your technology is essential. Most businesses today make extensive use of IT systems, both local and remote. Everyone can access these systems in a variety of ways.
Because of mobile and cloud services, today's network settings are not what they used to be. These new network settings make it a lot more complicated to protect the systems from malicious access. To defend yourself against this, you will have to implement a security strategy consisting of multiple security layers. It will give you more control over the environment and more certainty that possible vulnerabilities will get noticed in time.
Does your corporate culture contribute to cyber security?
In addition to developing a cyber strategy, you will also need to create a security culture. People are often the weakest link in a company's security. Train your employees and educate them on cyber risks, which are relevant to their role. Set up a policy document that outlines the rules and regulations. Then make sure these policies are implemented.
How confident are you about your cyber security?
Security professionals will tell you that there are only two kinds of companies: the one that got hacked and the one that doesn't know it got hacked. In other words, you need to pay as much attention to how you deal with a hack as to how you protect yourself against it. Policies, procedures, and means of enforcement should first focus on limiting the cyber threat and preventing the cyber threat from infiltrating the entire organisation. Then you focus on detecting and fixing the vulnerability so that it doesn’t happen again.
In addition, now that we all communicate digitally and through multiple channels, the information exchange also involves several risks. Such as malware that gets into business systems and has a devastating effect on a company. The best protection is a combination of tools and policies:
- Software that automatically blocks users from accessing suspicious websites
- Software that blocks incoming malicious e-mails
- Policies that instruct users not to click on or open suspicious items
CTOUCH and Grant Thornton
Whether you do it yourself or have it done by an outsider, you constantly need to monitor your systems and services. You need software and hardware that is able to react quickly and effectively. And to perform real-time analyses to explain and limit breaches. In preference tailored to the specific requirements of your business.
We set the bar at the highest level when it comes to security. So, we invest in it continuously. For our customers. For our products. And for our people. And we do this with our experts, but also together with the experts of Grant Thornton.
Source: Grant Thornton - Do employers take cyber security seriously (enough)?