Apr 18, 2023

From small startup businesses to Fortune 500 conglomerations overseas, every company can be a potential victim of cyberattacks. While the outlook may seem pessimistic, today’s threat actors seldom discriminate against any specific industry. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released its 2022 Internet Crime Report citing at least 860 critical infrastructure breaches resulting in over $34.3 million lost. Furthermore, manufacturing facilities were amongst the top three most victimized sectors plagued by ransomware, coming just a little lower than healthcare and public health facilities.

 Although cybersecurity parameters could have been overlooked in the past, today’s rising threats leave no room for compromising on your data security plan. Several strategies have risen in popularity as best practices such as zero-trust policies, multi-factor authentication, and denylisting. Nevertheless, unique businesses may require different approaches to data security. As you evaluate your cybersecurity strategy, our experienced technicians recommend measuring the following indicators to best outline your response plan.

• Unidentified devices connected to your network – Whether you are operating BYOD or enterprise devices, your network should note unauthorized devices to target potential intruders. On the flip side, connected devices should leverage an identifier to ensure proper network usage.
• Employees’ level of preparedness – Many data breaches can be traced back to user error or negligence. Therefore, consider establishing easy-to-follow training and guidance to empower your team with confidence and clear steps on how to partner with your cybersecurity plan.  
• Past intrusion attempts – By looking back at how many times your business has fallen victim to potential attacks, you may also target exploitable vulnerabilities such as missed patches and software updates hiding in your operations.
• Average response time to cyberattacks – Studies conducted by IBM show that the average business takes 197 days to discover a data breach and 69 days to contain it. During that time, threat actors have ample access to your sensitive data, compromising security. Viable strategies should proactively mitigate attacks while immediately alerting IT teams of suspicious behaviors.
• Number of users with admin-level access to critical systems – The more users interacting with your systems, the higher risk of damaging user error. Consequently, it is highly recommended that you limit admin access to a trustworthy few. Moreover, a tiered system can also help segment your data to prevent a mass breach.
• Decommissioning timeline – When devices are ready to be upgraded, your decommissioning process should involve accurate data destruction and device wipes to prevent information from falling in the wrong hands. Similarly, in the event of employee termination, user accounts and passwords must be quickly updated lest they be forgotten and serve as another entry point for threat actors.

 View our Data Security guide for more practical ways to combat security threats in the Digital Age.

When and Where to Start

The time to establish dependable cybersecurity is now. Meeting with an experienced technician team serves as a great way to start evaluating and optimizing your strategy. After selecting a team, it is recommended you track:

• Deployed mobile devices
• Login strength
• Entry points to your IoT network
• Top software and sites used by your team
• Devices nearing end-of-life
• User experience levels with deployed devices

 As cyberattacks become ever more intricate and subtle, security strategies must maintain flexible agility for faster responses and intelligent prevention. Meet with our teams to see if your strategy is ready to tackle today’s cyberattacks.