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Four Cybersecurity Facts Business Leaders Should Know

Four Cybersecurity Facts Business Leaders Should Know
Four Cybersecurity Facts Modern Business Leaders Should Know (iStock)

Over a year ago, the World Economic Forum released its Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2022. They identified three existing gaps that hinder the development of cyber-resilient systems for businesses: 

By Laura Julian

  • Prioritizing cybersecurity in business decisions;
  • Involving cybersecurity experts in leadership;
  • The lack of cybersecurity employees.

Over the last few years, the growing cyber threats have demonstrated their capabilities. Ransomware became one of the deadliest attacks on the business environment, targeting the oil industry, healthcare and educational sectors, and government institutions.

Furthermore, reliance on third-party vendors, Cloud computing, and SaaS introduced new vulnerabilities through supply chain attacks. Business leaders must take the initiative to prevent falling victim to such threats. The shift must encompass new cybersecurity software as much as a shift in leading mentality.

01/ Cyber Risks Are Business Risk

Business leaders must consider cybersecurity risks alongside every other business risk. Just as they consider political circumstances, and economic, environmental, and human resource risks, cybersecurity should receive significant consideration.

Cyber incident damages grew to trillions, and a successful cyber attack damages an enterprise’s reputation. Users tend not to trust companies that cannot secure their data. Furthermore, such data can be used against users to cause further financial harm, leading to lawful repercussions.

Company CEOs should invite a CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) to all meetings involving user data, technology development, and risk management. These experts excel at the real-time response to data breaches. They can minimize the damage at the most crucial time – when networks are breached and cybercriminals move resources outside the company’s network.

02/ Establish a Cyber-Resilient Culture

Human error remains the leading factor in data breaches. In reality, it’s easier for hackers to trick a person into clicking on an infectious backlink or expose corporate passwords in a chat than to develop efficient hacking malware.

Cybersecurity should become a part of the company’s culture. For example, to increase password security, employees should be trained on how to use a business password manager. Instead of using the same easy-to-guess password for all business accounts, they will adequately secure them with long, complex, and unique ones. 

Moreover, they should be aware of using Multi-factor-authentication alongside. Both of these tools combined create nearly unbreakable password security. Remember that one of the worst hacks against an oil company exploited bad password hygiene and cost several million dollars.

Lastly, it’s best to implement company-wide cybersecurity training and repeat them every now and then. If your company expands, you should regularly train new employees on the best cybersecurity practices. They will learn to identify Phishing emails, use cybersecurity software, and browse the Internet safely. 

03/ Mandatory Cybersecurity Software

Knowing what cybersecurity software you require is essential. Cybercrime is so lucrative that most small and medium businesses can expect to become frequent targets in the upcoming years. Hackers know these companies have limited resources and choose them as easy targets.

Luckily, cybersecurity software is affordable, and it gets more expensive the bigger your business grows. In the early stages, you can rely on affordable, commercially available protection software, such as a business VPN and antivirus. The VPN will secure remote workers’ devices and prevent Man-in-the-middle attacks. The Antivirus software will guarantee your corporate networks remain safe from within. A business antivirus scans incoming data flow and internal storage space for malicious programs, neutralizing them immediately.

Lastly, you should regularly back up all business data. Ransomware gangs make money by encrypting it and demanding payment. Unless you pay the price, they can delete crucial information which is especially relevant to the healthcare sector. Losing access to diagnosis information can have life-threatening consequences.

If you regularly back up your data, you can immediately restore it if your company gets hit. Furthermore, you can use secure online Cloud storage services to store it there. Make sure you subscribe to a service that uses the latest encryption algorithms to secure its servers. Alongside online Cloud, have at least one backup in offline storage that cannot be attacked from the Internet.

04/ Adhere to Data Regulation Rules

Most businesses now handle online user data, and securing it is up to them. Over the last decade, few political regulations imposed laws upon businesses regarding user data security. You must adhere to regulations like GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) or CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) in the US.

Failing to do so will result in hefty fines and prolonged court procedures. Consider Facebook, which is a regular guest at such courts. They pay huge fines, and each occasion hurts their reputation. Right now, Meta is steadily losing its grounds to new social network services, in no small part due to failure to secure its users.

Even though the reality of cyber threats looks menacing, cybersecurity experts provide outstanding and effective solutions. The sooner business leaders invite them to decision-making meetups, the more secure their company will become. Furthermore, the cybersecurity industry is among the fastest growing, and you can receive high-quality software to buff up your defenses.

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