The world we live in now is more dependent on technology than it was ever before at any point in time. And this will continue to happen perhaps with even more pace in the future as we go through automation and computerization of each aspect of our lives in this age of IT and AI, where we are introduced to new technologies every day. It is only natural that virtually every task, work, and job has become partially if not fully reliant on computers and the internet for its operations and has a cyber presence or online mode of functioning for managing its records, product and services profiles, customer interactions as well as buying/ selling processes.
Like it is the case in every sphere of life, with such new facilities we also face certain new kinds of risks. Here this risk comes in the form of cyber threats or cyber attacks, as a result of some ever-present hostile elements on the world wide web trying to find ways to crack businesses’ network systems and steal confidential online credentials. This has lead to the inception of a counter-strategy, which we now commonly imply by the term “Cyber Security”.
Cyber Security refers to the methods used for the protection of networks, computer devices, and systems from becoming the target of a cyber attack. The processes of Cybersecurity are practiced by organizations to defend their systems against any kind of unauthorized access, breach of data, or identity theft. Application of various technologies and software among other techniques are used as safety measures that are required for this purpose. A strong cybersecurity implementation ensures better security of your sensitive online information.
Importance of Cyber Security
The importance of Cybersecuritycan not be discounted because it holds relevance across almost every industrial sector today from Banking, Consumer goods/ garments, and Healthcare to Film & media industry. Unless very effective cyber security measures have been applied, it is always risky to be running any aspects of your business online. So it is essential that not only your organization must be working in an online environment protected by high quality anti-virus and firewalls, but also that your staff must be trained to have cyber security awareness.
Several surveys have shown that cyber security risks have doubled, or in fact tripled in magnitude in the recent few years, This is not just the result of a lack of attention or negligence of organizations towards the cyber security side of their online platforms but it is also because the cybercriminals have found new ways to breach the security of the systems by adapting to the changes that have occurred in the methods to defend online information. Cyber criminals have learned new and sophisticated techniques to breach your networks therefore the methods to deal with the cyber risks also have to keep evolving constantly and you have to keep updating your security time to time, to be one step ahead of the attackers.
The defense strategy of a business in place for its overall cybersecurity is called Cyber-security Posture. A strong and effective cybersecurity posture has certain primary elements, namely, Risk Management, Threat Management, Incident Management, Access Management, Asset Management & Identification, Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity, and Security Awareness Training. All of these collectively form the mechanism of cybersecurity posture management. We shall shed some light on each of these aspects for further clarity.
Firstly, Risk Management in cyber security deals with the identification and mitigation of potential risks. It also involves a risk assessment process in which an assessment of all of an organization’s online assets is made to prioritize and plan the actions against the vulnerabilities. Among the other elements, the Threat Management and Incident management involve the processes to prevent any cyberattacks from occurring as well as responding to the security incidents. Access management deals with ensuring that the right people have access to the right information, or only the information that they strictly need to be aware of, and not more than that.
Similarly, Asset management is the management in regards to the digital assets of the organization and covering the gaps -once identified- in the security of these assets. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity concerns ensuring the business operations do not get interrupted in case of a natural or man-made disaster of any kind and that there are minimal financial and reputational damages to the business while recovering from the disaster.
Last but not least – is Cyber Security Awareness Training, which is vital for an organization’s employees as they are the soft target of cyber-attackers to obtain confidential information even when it is protected by all other means. The employees, as such need to be trained to keep their email interactions secure, and about how the suspicious approaches need to be dealt with. So as it stands, there is a lot of vigilance that is required to ensure total cyber security, something that is the most important thing to take care of while working online.
