#security strategy

Well, when it comes to business security strategy, you might think that this is something that would be at the very top of all businesses’ priority lists, but realistically speaking, here, it’s usually put on the back burner until 50 other urgent things get done first. But will it ever happen? Well, a business day is already full. You’ve got clients who need replies, payments need chasing, someone’s asking for a last-minute change, and then the Wi-Fi drops, and that’s only going to lead to more problems and more inconveniences here.

But as you can see, it’s a lot of stuff, and yeah, sure, a password manager and antivirus feel like they should cover it. But cybersecurity problems tend to be really big. Like maybe it’s a weird email that looked legit, a login that stopped working, a customer saying they got a strange message, or money moving in a way that makes your stomach drop.

Hopefully, none of these ever happen to you, but that’s why you need to be proactive now on cybersecurity and maybe stop with the “good enough” mentality and actually get a professional to help out.

You Can’t Run on Hope

Which, yes, is super obvious here. But if the security strategy is basically “please don’t let anything bad happen,” it’s time. It’s time to finally get a professional rather than just playing this terrible and very risky game of change. You need clear answers.

You need clear answers to all of these questions: who has access to what. How former employees get removed from systems. Where files are stored. What happens if someone clicks a phishing link? What gets done first if accounts get locked? If those answers feel fuzzy, then yeah, it’s time to get some help ASAP because it’s only a matter of time before some giant disaster happens.

Are Backups Vague or Untested?

A lot of businesses think they have backups because “everything is in the cloud.” Granted, that makes sense to think that, sure, and sometimes that’s true. But sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it’s in the cloud but still not recoverable in the way you’d expect if something got corrupted, deleted, or locked down. Which, yes, that’s real, it’s true, and it could very well happen to you.

So, if the idea of restoring everything feels unclear, or if nobody has ever tested a restore, or if backups depend on one person remembering to do them, that’s a sign. This is one of those areas where an IT solutions provider can come in, well, they should, and they can set up the backups and recovery properly so you know for a fact that everything can and will work in the off chance something goes wrong.

Is the “IT Person” Not Actually an IT Person?

Yes, a lot of smaller businesses, family businesses especially seem to be super guilty with tihs. So, if the person handling security is also the person doing sales, invoicing, operations, customer support, and a million other things, it’s time. No, really, it’s time to finally get an actual professional instead of making someone wear multiple hats.

Because cybersecurity isn’t just one task. It’s updates, permissions, access controls, device security, email security, staff training, monitoring, and having a response plan. That’s a lot. And expecting someone to do it properly while also running the business is, well, there’ll be a disaster in a matter of time.

How effective is your cybersecurity? It seems like a simple question, but no less important to consider and determine as the answer could be the difference between a prevented breach and a successful one. In order to keep track of your business’ cybersecurity preparedness, it is important that you regularly evaluate it. Let’s go through the essential steps to performing such an evaluation.

Step One: Figure Out Where Your Weaknesses Lie

The first step to evaluating your cybersecurity is to identify where your biggest shortcomings are—otherwise, what chance will you have to fix them? Threats are always being improved and developed anew. Figuring out which parts of your business’ technology are due for an upgrade is key to shoring up the weaknesses that these upgrades can resolve.

If a simple upgrade or patch isn’t the answer, this will help you figure out what is. Maybe someone needs additional training to reinforce secure processes, or maybe an unreported complication has your team resorting to workarounds that open you up to attack. In essence, you need to know what problems need to be solved before you can solve them.

Step Two: Apply Trusted Methods that Meet Established Standards

When all is said and done, it really isn’t that hard to figure out what you need to do to protect your business. There are assorted organizations that have publicized the best practices that they recommend (or actually, urge) businesses to abide by in order to minimize modern cyberthreats. If you aren’t sure whose recommendations you should be following, don’t hesitate to give us a call and ask. We’re happy to help you figure out what needs to be done.

The same can and should be said of any industry-based regulations and compliances that might apply to your business. Things like the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) apply to most businesses in operation today, and there are some industry-specific guidelines that could severely hinder one’s success if they are not followed. Knowing what applies to your business and abiding by any applicable rules and laws will only help make your security more effective.

Step Three: Figure Out if You Have the Resources You Need

Somewhere along this process, you might have a moment where you feel a little overwhelmed by everything that is expected of you—and that is completely understandable. It is, in a word, a lot. While your cybersecurity is obviously very important, you still have to run the business you’re trying to protect… and unfortunately, fully-credentialed IT professionals don’t come cheap.

There is one glaring exception, though, that can give you the opportunity to enlist the skill of a full team of professionals of this caliber for a manageable monthly cost. This is how the managed service model works. By relying on our team members for however much of your IT-related needs as you wish to use us for, you can rest assured that you have the resources needed to manage your business’ essential tools and technology in a secure fashion. Maybe you have us handle your security while your in-house team maintains your IT, or vice versa. We can scale our services to precisely fit your needs and budget, without shortchanging any security requirements you may have.

Step Four: Plan Your Cybersecurity’s Future

While it may be obvious that planning for cybersecurity after a security incident is the most perfect example of “too little, too late,” more businesses than you’d think still follow that approach. Some of them do so without even realizing it, simply because they haven’t considered how cyberthreats change over time and how easily they could find themselves in the crosshairs someday.

Fixing this requires a proactive approach. Take the time now to devise a security plan and policies for your business to follow—particularly if a security incident were to darken your doors—and train your team to do so automatically. Once you have this plan established, break it out every now and then to review it and adjust it as need be… cyberthreats change over time, after all.

Infradapt is Here to Help You at Every Step

As a managed service provider, a large part of what we do is centered around the idea of cybersecurity, so we have a lot of experience with fulfilling each step of this process. Find out what we can help your business accomplish by calling 800-394-2301 today.

As connected devices and the deployment of new edges grows, the attack surface is widening, making it complex for organizations to secure and manage their network.

 Fortinet delivers an effective security platform, the Fortinet Security Fabric, developed around three critical principles. Visibility and protection requirements to extend across the entire digital attack surface. With data crossing between several device form factors and network ecosystems, platforms require a holistic view into devices, traffic, and events, while also stopping threats.

Combining tools and systems using open standards, common operating systems, and unified management platforms allows the sharing and correlation of real-time threat intelligence. This framework also helps advanced coordinate threats through sophisticated, centralized analytics that is complex or impossible to achieve using conventionally isolated security deployments. The time between a breach will soon be evaluated in microseconds. Security systems require automatically offering continuous assessment and then providing an immediate, coordinated response to detected threats.

Effective security platforms also require being open. That means they are developed using an open architecture and industry standards and offer Application Programming Interfaces to ensure that third-party solutions that weren't installed on the platform can still be seamlessly incorporated into a platform. This ensures that no security tool in isolation, but as part of an integrated security framework by sharing threat intelligence and working in coordinated responses to identified threats.

Fortinet is committed to the concept of an open security environment. The Fortinet Fabric-Ready Alliance Partner Program puts forth a community of technology partners to allow comprehensive solutions. It offers alliance partners with resources and tools, allowing them to combine with the Fortinet Security Fabric and the Fortinet Open Fabric Ecosystem. Open Fabric Ecosystem passed the threshold of about 355 technology integrations, making it one of the industry's widest cybersecurity ecosystems.

All businesses have their challenges right from data security threats to rules and regulations. Regardless of the size of an organization, counselling from a dedicated security strategy consulting company is necessary to keep pace. It is quite a challenging job to find out the hidden threats and vulnerabilities, select the best technologies, and draft the correct actions to safeguard the information assets and to comply with the laws of Australia.

With the number of increasing attacks, which companies get daily, it is important to improve the security program constantly. The Security Strategy consulting will deliver you the required security program.  The program will guide your investment focus and ensure that money is only spend in the areas that warrant investment.  The program will also show you how to deal with new and upcoming security risks for your business.

The benefits of a security strategy consultant

When you hire a security strategy consultant for a specific project or as needed basis, a company can reduce its cyber security risks by analyzing the needs accurately. A security strategy consulting company can deliver the following value proposition to your organization.

· It can offer you an unbiased and fresh perspective on the security issues facing the business.

· A consultant has a lot of background experience in companies that have faced similar issues. You can get valuable experience with minimal cost rather than going through a trial-and-error process on your own

· The consultants are updated with the newest trends, technology, and best practices to offer the best risk mitigation and best strategies.

· A consultant can focus completely on the security issues that you need and you can oversee the day-to-day activities for maintaining the security standards.

· The consultant knows the industry best practices and what kinds of threats can stall your jobs, they take strategy accordingly.

· As the consultants have the varied experience in implementing the security measures, they are highly efficient compared to internal teams implementing the same measures.