Proactive vs Reactive Cybersecurity
Would you rather deal with the consequences of a fire in your business, or install fire protection to prevent it? The choice is obvious: The proactive measure is by far the better option of the two. You should take the same approach to your cybersecurity. No point closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.
Defending against breaches before they occur is critical because of the damage a breach can cause to your business. Breaches can result in lost revenue, productivity, and the loss of trust and confidence of your customers, partners, and employees. In addition, there may be consequences with regulatory fines and insurance.
The average time it takes to detect and stop a cyberattack is 277 days. Once inside your network and systems attackers will bide their time to take as much system control as possible to maximise the value to themselves. Therefore, its important to understand the importance of being proactive in your cybersecurity efforts.
4 Proactive Cybersecurity Measures to Implement
- Implement basic security measures.
- Perform regular network monitoring.
- Conduct cybersecurity awareness training.
- Carry out penetration testing.
1. Implement Basic Security Practices
The Basics are the simplest proactive measures you can take is to practice good cybersecurity hygiene in your organization. This should be considered as essentials for all businesses.
Here are the 6 basic security measures you will want to ensure your organization takes include:
- Implement multi-factor authentication (MFA) throughout the organisation.
- Requiring employees to use strong passwords for all accounts.
- Installing a good firewall to protect your perimeter.
- Regularly updating all software, browsers, and devices to the latest version.
- Implement an email filtering service to scan inbound messages.
- Use anti-virus on all devices, computers, and servers.
Many organizations stop their proactive cybersecurity measures with these practices. However, in today’s security landscape, these may not be enough. If you truly want to protect your organization’s data, you will need to look at the following measures. Please speak to a cybersecurity expert at Archway Securities for more information.
2. Perform Regular Network Monitoring
A good proactive measure to consider is regular network monitoring (NetMon). Network monitoring is an automated process that allows you to track devices and traffic, helping you identify suspicious activity and potential vulnerabilities. There are a multitude of products that than fulfil this role and ideally you need to speak with a specialist cybersecurity expert such as Archway Securities to see what best suits your IT set-up, requirements, and budget. Another option is Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tool, this not only covers your network but also look to every endpoint.
Another consideration is taking a zero-trust approach to network monitoring efforts. Zero Trust is a strategic approach to cybersecurity that secures an organization by eliminating implicit trust and continuously validating every stage of a digital interaction. It is rooted in the principle of ‘never trust, always verify’. Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) is designed to protect modern environments and enable digital transformation by using strong authentication methods, leveraging network segmentation, preventing lateral movement, providing Layer 7 threat prevention, and simplifying granular, “least access” policies.
3. Conduct Cybersecurity Awareness Training
Even the strongest technological defences can crumble in the face of social engineering attacks and insider threats. This inherent vulnerability is why conducting regular cybersecurity awareness training is vital for organizations. The majority of cyberattacks exploit employees using email in the form of phishing or pretexting.
Educate your employees on common cyber-attacks and best practices for defending against a breach. Some topics you may want to consider regular training for your employees include:
- Phishing – consider simulation training.
- Malware
- Ransomware
- Password Hacking
Cybersecurity isn’t just the responsibility of your information security team or IT team, it’s every employee’s responsibility to ensure they are doing their part to protect your organization’s data. Regular training will encourage this mindset among your employees. Archway Securities can assist with employee awareness and training.
4. Engage in Penetration Testing
The last measure you might take in a proactive approach to cybersecurity is to carry out in penetration testing. Pen Testing a simulated cyberattack on a computer system, network, or web application in order to find and fix security vulnerabilities. It is a valuable security testing method that can help organizations identify and fix security weaknesses before they can be exploited by attackers. Archway Securities can assist with Pen Testing using out ethical hacking team.
Conclusion
Reactive cybersecurity measures aren’t sufficient in the current environment. Cyberattacks become more sophisticated with each passing year, and to maintain compliance and adequately protect your organization, you need to take a more proactive approach.
