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6 strategies to strengthen your cybersecurity posture

Cyberattacks are a constant threat to organizations. Without a strong cybersecurity framework, your business could be at risk. On the other hand, having a strong cybersecurity posture allows your business to manage and mitigate risks quickly and efficiently. In return, your data and files are better protected from malicious activity. Check out these 6 practices to improve your cybersecurity posture.

Conduct a risk assessment

In order to improve your current cybersecurity posture, you need to know what you should be focusing on. You won’t know where vulnerabilities are until you conduct a full risk analysis. The assessment will help you better understand which security aspects are most important and which vulnerabilities should be focused on first. 

Cyber risk assessments are defined by NIST as risk assessments that are used to identify, estimate, and prioritize risk to organizational operations, organizational assets, individuals, other organizations, resulting from the operation and use of information systems. 

Educate your employees

Not all employees come into their role with a full background on cybersecurity. By training employees during the onboarding process, they will understand the framework in place and why these cybersecurity best practices are expected to be followed.

Items that should be included in employee training include:

  • How to identify different types of threats
  • Password security
  • How to report suspicious activity
  • Email and browser policies

“By making employees able to identify and eliminate cyber threats, you are strengthening the most vulnerable link in the chain.”

Regularly test employee knowledge

Take a proactive approach to ensure employees are retaining the cybersecurity information being taught by testing them on a consistent basis. This way, if an attack does happen, they don’t panic and know what to do. Additionally, it will allow you to see how effective the training is and what other curriculum should be included for future training. 

“Global spending on security awareness training for employees is predicted to reach $10 billion by 2027, up from around $1 billion in 2014.”

Create a response plan

In addition to education and regular testing, a carefully thought out plan in case of a cyber attack also needs to be established. In the case of a cyber attack, does each employee know the first steps in order to minimize losses? Start by deciding who is the point leader for making sure everyone knows their role. Be sure to include a detailed checklist that has action items so no time is wasted.

Encourage open communication

Employees from different departments and roles should feel comfortable and confident when it comes to reporting or further learning about cybersecurity threats. If they are not completely comfortable, they may ignore or avoid an issue that could turn into a larger problem down the road. Having open conversation allows for transparency, accountability, and trust.

“Creating a culture of security helps prevent breaches and requires input from a variety of departments including IT, HR, marketing, facilities, and anyone else regularly involved in managing critical systems.”

Implement automated security measures

Implementing automated cybersecurity solutions in your organization’s network is much more effective than manually monitoring threats. Automated systems are constantly monitoring suspicious activity and often see something before it becomes a major issue. This allows IT teams to focus on more serious issues should they arise.

Start improving now

Take the time to strengthen your cybersecurity posture before it’s too late and your business experiences a cyberattack. Being proactive now could save you time and money in the long run. If you need help with your cybersecurity strategy, reach out to the IT experts at Infinity Technologies for more information. 

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