Cybersecurity: What Every Business Leader Needs to Know

Remote work has grown steadily worldwide over the past ten years, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced everyone to make it the norm. What does this mean for cyber security and threat management at companies where many employees work from home?

The 2019 Cost of a Data Breach Report from IBM Security says that the average cost of a data breach in the US is a shocking $3.92 million. Because of this, companies that depend on technology often pay much attention to cyber security and data protection.

Customer data is still the top target for breaches because it can be used in many illegal ways and sold to third parties. Even so, it’s not the only one. Theft of intellectual property (IP), interruptions in the supply chain, access to sensitive systems, and campaigns to hurt a company’s reputation are all big-picture problems that need to be considered in mitigation and management plans. The core of a more strategic approach should be a firm grasp of basic information security concepts, even though it is helpful to keep up with trends and new methods.

Those in charge of managing resources, teams, or techniques should usually pay special attention to the following:

New Ways in a New World

In this brave new world, the information systems of a modern company are both an important asset that helps it stay competitive and a source of operational and strategic security risks. Successful internal and external management of this resource should shape the strategies and operations of companies that can not only use information but also keep it safe. Companies’ bottom lines are becoming increasingly tied to the information itself. Given how deeply complex digital ecosystems are connected to the success of many businesses, it is more important than ever to put the security of information exchange and storage at the top of your list of priorities.

Support Evolves to Strategy

How organizations see, resource, organize, and employ their information security function needs to change. Initially, a primary area of attention should be equipping the current IT security function to go over the operational and structural limitations of its “IT support” label and assume a more active strategic role in protecting sensitive data and surrounding systems from attack. It is well acknowledged that business problems are not included when technology challenges are traditionally delegated to IT specialists. However, when the company’s structure is changing and knowledge remits are becoming more entrenched, tech difficulties, meaning change, can be difficult to envisage or implement.

Information in the Information Age: How to Value It

Organizations need to get better at figuring out how to figure out the value of a pool of information that is getting bigger and more important. However, many aren’t ready to do this, even though data is becoming increasingly important to their products and services. For information value projections to be reliable, they must be made by those who oversee storing, protecting, accessing, and analyzing the assets – also known as the IT function – and those in charge of making decisions that turn data into business value.

The Real Truth About Threats

Most businesses want to make sure their information is safe. But if many people still think that keeping it secure is a technical problem that hackers and other faceless outsiders pose, they may be surprised by the truth. Research has shown that people or an organization’s culture are usually more likely than hackers to cause security breaches, whether on purpose or by accident. One example is when people share private information on social media.

Asset Security from the Inside Out

Employees need to know that how they interact with people, computer systems, and physical assets can affect how well a security program works in the long run. Continuous training, education, and awareness are all essential parts of an organization’s plan to move asset protection away from the IT department. In today’s technology-driven industries and workplaces, security should be everyone’s job.

In Conclusion

The average cost of a data breach in the US is a shocking $3.92 million. Customer data is still the top target for breaches. IT security needs to go over the operational and structural limitations of its "IT support" label. It needs to assume a more active strategic role in protecting sensitive data. In today's technology-driven industries and workplaces, security should be everyone's job. For information value projections to be reliable, they must be made by those who oversee storing, protecting, accessing, and analyzing the assets - also known as the IT function – and those in charge of making decisions that turn data into business value.