The current situation in cyber security
In recent years, more and more types of cyber-attacks are emerging, and they are now more frequent and sophisticated, posing a significant threat to organisations. A recent study by Barracuda Networks This spring even demonstrates this: 45.7% of HTML files scanned in March 2023 were found to be malicious, compared to 21% in May 2022. Attackers frequently use this HTML cyber attack technique to compromise any cybersecurity strategy using humans.
Through well-crafted messages, compromised websites and/or HTML file attachments, employees can easily be tricked. This approach is used by hackers to hide phishing or credential theft attacks and more.
It is impossible to be 100% protected and you shouldn’t make it an end goal, but a proactive, effective, evolving and well-supported strategy is essential. To achieve this, there are four important steps to follow.
Where do you start to create a strategy for cybersecurity strategy?
First of all, think about this: the goal of a cybersecurity strategy is to improve everything that your company stands for. This usually requires moving from a reactive to a proactive security approach, where the focus is on prevention of cyber attacks and incidents rather than responding to them retroactively.
👉 Read more about reactive and preventive cybersecurity solutions here .
Developing a cybersecurity strategy for your business is essential both for long-term success and to ensure business continuity no matter what the circumstances. Here are the basic steps you should follow to design and implement an effective security strategy.
- Understand what types of attacks your business is vulnerable to.
To understand the vulnerability of your business, you need both external and internal analysis. Starting with the external analysis, you should analyze your business environment to see what kind of cyber attacks are most common and how they can affect your business. Notice if any of your competitors have experienced security problems in the past and make sure you take the right measures. Your security solutions provider will suggest optimal cybersecurity solutions, but it’s up to you to know best what your business needs.
- Determine your vulnerability with an IT Audit
An internal analysis is done quickly and easily with an automated IT audit. In this phase, you will see exactly what technical gaps and vulnerabilities your business is facing across your entire IT system. As soon as you have a clear overview of your business security, you can start to put your shortcomings in place.
👉 We help you get started with cyber security measures by offering you a free IT audit. See more details here .
- Determine how to improve your cybersecurity practices
You have to think about the future. Given that you have analysed the external environment and know what problems you might encounter, it would not be bad to take preventive measures. If you’ve noticed that ransomware attacks have affected an increasing number of businesses, you should consider data backup and recovery solutions at this time. Given the flexibility of your work, you may want to extend your employees’ remote working hours in the long term, in which case you need cybersecurity solutions that protect your employees’ devices, such as firewall as a service. In such situations, we should approach it with a utilitarian mindset, and find the solutions that will provide the greatest long-term good.
Every improvement needs to be approached realistically, so think carefully: do you have the resources in-house? Is it more advantageous to outsource? We can support you with comprehensive cyber security services, tailored to your specific business needs. See more details here.
- Analyse and improve your practices constantly
As I said at the beginning of this article, there is no cybersecurity strategy that guarantees you will never be attacked. There are only strategies that will guarantee that in the event of a disaster, you will be able to respond and your business’ existence will not be threatened.
- In order to maintain a cybersecurity package that reflects the real needs of your company, our specialists recommend that your business goes through an IT audit every 6 months. This is the only way you will be able to have a clear and real overview to update your strategy.
- Consider employee training to minimize any company’s biggest risk: human error. Remember, 88% of security breaches are caused by employee error, according to a recent study, Psychology of Human Error.
- Clearly establish or re-establish what your company’s responsibilities are and what your cybersecurity provider’s duties are. Everyone has a role, make sure duties are always clear!
- To improve your cybersecurity strategy, address your users’ two main concerns: fear of being monitored, which generates discussions about individual rights, and excessive concern about security that affects productivity and maintains a paranoid atmosphere in the company. Ensuring adequate implementation without compromising these concerns can be assessed by considering the budget allocated.
You need a reliable partner when it comes to cyber security?
For over 14 years, HyperCubic has been a strategic partner to over 100 businesses of all sizes. We offer a full range of managed IT services in the cloud: IaaS (infrastructure as a service and own data centre), BaaS and BCDR (Backup as a service and Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery), cyber security (Firewall as a Service) and ITSM (IT Services Management level 1, 2, 3 and 4).
If you want to accelerate your digital transformation and grow your business at your own pace, we’re just a message away.
