When we asked businesses about cybersecurity threats, breach points, policies, company readiness, and recovery, we were surprised at the responses that we received.
The most frightening response of all was the following: “We have no formal process for assessing readiness to deal with a cyberattack of any sort.”
Hindsight is always 20/20 – how many times has something happened that you could have and should have prevented?
Here are five ways to prepare every company for a cyberattack:
Cybersecurity Threats
It’s easy to sit back and think that threats and attacks only happen to other people and other businesses, but not to ourselves. Living in a state of paranoia can be beneficial to the security of your company. Former Intel CEO, Andrew Grove, once stated that “Only the paranoid survive.” Knowing all you can about current and possible future attacks helps you to understand why and how you need to be prepared.
Sources Of Breaches
Cyberattacks could threaten your business through a few different sources. For example, employee mobile devices make up for 51% of all cybersecurity breaches, which is extremely troubling, given that there are nearly as many employee cell phones as there are employees themselves. Another possible source of a breach are Internet of Things devices. Together they make up 87% of all the cybersecurity breaches.
Cybersecurity Policies
Cybersecurity policies should be in place to ensure that the company as a whole is all in agreement on what the threats are, how to avoid them, and how to respond to one. Employees should be trained to know how to report a possible cyberattack, as well as how to prevent one.
Attack Readiness
To check your business for its readiness to handle a cyberattack you should see which of the four main categories your company falls into. Is your organization’s readiness passive, reactive, proactive, or progressive? Passive means that your business is not prepared for a cyberattack – you just hope that it won’t happen. Reactive means that while you aren’t ready to protect against a cyberattack, your business is prepared to react to one.
Recovery From Cyberattacks
Once a cyberattack has occurred, you need to have a policy in place to immediately begin recovery. Cyberattacks have four main effects. In the aftermath, most businesses will see a reduction in their operational abilities, downtime, reputation, and revenue.
To protect your business, you need to look at the problem from all sides. Ensure that you and your staff are well-trained, and remain vigilant against any cyberattack that could affect your company. Have policies in place, to ensure that staff is proactively working to protect the business’ data, staff, and clients.
Should a cyberattack occur, your business should be ready to not only combat it but also recover from it?