Companies that stand the test of time are often called resilient as they are adept at riding the cyclical waves that all businesses encounter. Seamlessly navigating the big challenges (like COVID-19) and the small ones (like a temporary product shortage) with ease. And while organizational resiliency has long been critical to success, a new type of resiliency is becoming increasingly important. As hackers grow more strategic in their attempts to defraud companies, the topic of cyber resiliency has risen in popularity.
Cyber resiliency is best described as being prepared to thwart, minimize, respond to, and recover from cyber-attacks. Obtaining cyber resiliency encompasses both offensive and defensive strategies. Though it sounds confusing, it’s actually easier than you may think. Here are our top ways to build cyber resiliency.
When most of us think of cyber-attacks and data breaches, we often picture outside sources hacking into networks. And while that certainly does happen in droves, one recent survey found that almost 35% of data breaches involved internal actors. The best way to mitigate that risk is by looking internally at the levels of access given to employees. One thought is to conduct an audit by department and title to ensure that what could be sensitive material (especially if it’s customer information) is only available to those who really need it for the scope of their work.
Another of the most successful ways to bolster your cyber resiliency is to regularly educate and train employees. In the same survey we mentioned earlier, the findings showed that 32% of data breaches involved phishing. A deceptive ploy committed by bad actors to trick an unknowing person into revealing private information. A lot of these attempts are sophisticated in nature and can mirror or mimic what appear to be authentic email addresses. This obviously makes detecting and avoiding these a challenge. Your company’s leadership must consistently remind employees about the dangers of phishing attempts and other cyber-attack. They should provide specific examples of how fraudsters may try to infiltrate their internal systems.
Now that you’ve trained your team on how to spot a cyber-attack or a vulnerability that puts the company at risk of a data breach, the staff will need to know who to tell. Be sure to create and clearly communicate to staff a protocol and chain of command. This means a dedicated contact should be created for employees to turn to if they feel they’ve exposed internal systems to a cyber-attack.
From there, that contact should have a plan in place for exploring what happened and mitigating any further risk. Company leadership should be kept in the know at all times. As well as customer service and communications teams who may need to draft and deliver messaging related to the breach. Companies should conduct mock exercises multiple times a year in which a run-through of this protocol is undertaken. Ensuring there are no holes in the plan and that each team member is aware of their role and responsibility.
No matter how tightly locked down your internal networks are, those efforts are meaningless if third-party vendors that store or utilize your (or a customer’s) sensitive information isn’t doing the same. Ask your existing third-party vendors about the steps they take to keep your information safe and their networks secure. You should also include these types of questions as part of your evaluation process for any new partners you bring on board. Protection from cyber-attacks should be a benefit that the vendor is proud to talk about, so if a company is hesitant to provide information about how they keep their networks safe, that’s a good indication that they probably aren’t doing so.
As a completely customizable field service management software solution, we’re proud of the ways we can help companies like yours find efficiencies and better serve their end customers. But we’re equally as proud of our efforts in helping our customers protect their data and their customer’s privacy. EnSight+ features two-factor authentication and full SAML 2.0 integration. We can also prevent unauthorized access by blocking specific IP addresses as needed. Interested in learning more about our software and how we stay ahead of data threats? Contact us today.
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