Cyber attacks are becoming systemic. Public cloud providers are in the crosshairs, as are Software as a Service providers. Attacks such as May 2017’s WannaCry show the extent to which a ransomware cryptoworm can travel across continents, impacting a majority of the world. It’s just one example of why cyber security strategies must be fine-tuned to protect data, regardless of how small your organization might be.
Cyber criminals are experts at finding weak points where they can launch an attack. They know that smaller organizations have limited budgets for cyber security, which makes them an instant target. For larger organizations that outsource various aspects of their operations to third parties, they too can become a victim if the third party isn’t equipped with an abundance of cyber security tools that thwart attacks.
Auditing and Getting Proactive
Rather than take the “we’ll react when compromised” approach, do what you can now to prevent a future attack. While a response plan should be part of your overall security strategy, being proactive is perhaps more important than your reactive strategies.
A proactive approach involves actively seeking out known hazards and areas of weakness and doing what is necessary to neutralize problems. For example, encryption can assist in protecting against ransomware attacks, as can having an offline back-up data source.
Monitoring the Situation
Another approach is to invest in monitoring tools so you can spot suspicious activity before it becomes a legitimate threat. Organizations that bring in automated monitoring take human error out of the equation and rely on the monitoring solution to use real-time event log correlation, giving you more insight into what’s going on within your network.
Ponemon Institute did a study on cyber security automation and found that nearly 80% of the institutions they polled use automation or plan on bringing in an automated solution in the near future.
If you’re like many organizations that don’t have a dedicated cyber security expert on your staff, automation tools can be a huge leap into a more solid security strategy. Ponemon found that 56% of organizations that utilize automated security systems do so in reaction to a skills gap.
Having everyone on board, from your C-Suite executives down to your freshest new hire, is important if you’re going to establish a high-quality cyber security strategy. Getting help from the outside is also a go-to method for improving security. By partnering with an agent, you can skip the stress associated with finding the right technology and let the agent do all the heavy lifting for you.
If you’re like many companies, you’ve opted to outsource help desk services, email hosting, and support for hardware and software. Diversified Technology Group will connect you to the managed services that will keep you on target for meeting your goals. Cyber security management is a big component of what we can help you with today. Contact us to discuss our methods.