Cyber Security Risk Management is becoming increasingly important as business use data for their operations and run most of their operations in the cloud. The increasing use of the internet for the ease it brings to communication continues to transform how we do business in the 21st century. Trends such as cloud computing, digital marketing, and even remote work owe their emergence to the fast adoption of the internet by businesses.

As businesses adopt more digital practices, we are witnessing a lot of changes. Digital interconnectedness is increasing as well as cyber-attacks. We are starting to face very sophisticated malware during cyber attacks.

Where businesses had to fear attacks from robbers or armed men, the threat of cyber attacks looms larger. Data theft, corporate espionage could cause severe losses for businesses worldwide.

The cyber attack on Maersk in 2017 nearly brought the organization to its knees, for instance. Businesses have to change the way they think about online security.

The Barrier Framework

The barrier framework is a great threat defense architecture to use. When you put protective barriers in place, the attacker has more battles to win before they get to their goal, and that could give the business time to stop the attack.

The barrier allows the IT team to keep logs of different attacks. Through the logs, they could learn what happened, and how each barrier was breached. By comparing the logs, the team can understand how effective their security is.

Key Points to Note

1. “You can’t be secure digitally at all times. It is only a matter of when you will be attacked and if they succeed.”
2. You have to constantly minimize the attack surface that is available to an attacker. Distribute your assets so the risk is diversified.
3. Analyze attacks while they are happening and after they happen and create fortifications.
4. Improve your business resilience. Make sure that your business can operate even while the attack is going on. Know the processes that can be interrupted by an attack and work around them. 
5. Absolute compliance with your local regulatory requirements should be the defensive baseline of your security.
6. Help senior management in setting their risk appetite and determining how much resources are allocated to cyber protection.

This post is a part of our last webinar.