Importance of CyberSecurity For Business

In today’s world, people are using technology in every aspect of their lives. Technology helps people to access information instantly on the internet or use smart home automation appliances. For example, you can learn about anything on the internet or use automated washing machines.  

However, technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things that are automated through the internet are not free from downsides. As a result, at least one cyber-attack takes place after every 39 seconds. Cyber Security is being adopted by organisations worldwide as it can minimise these cyber-attacks.

Cyber Security mechanism helps to protect services and devices connected to the internet. Besides, Cyber Security can minimise malicious attacks carried out by cybercriminals, spammers, and hackers. Companies worldwide use Cyber Security measures to protect their data against phishing schemes, financial losses, identity theft, ransomware attacks, etc.  

Table of Contents 

1) Understanding Cyber Security 

2) What is the importance of cyber security in business? 

3) Types of Cyber Security   

4) Steps to implement Cyber Security  

5) How can you protect your business against Cyber Crime? 

6) Conclusion  

Understanding Cyber Security 
 

Cyber Security includes a series of frameworks, tools, and processes. These components of Cyber Security offer protection to programs, devices, and networks against cyberattacks. Cybercriminals plan cyber-attacks like Denial of Service, Phishing, SQL injection, Botnets, Trojans, etc to access IT systems illegally. As a result, it can hinder business operations.  

Also, these attacks aim to modify, steal, or manipulate confidential data of organisations. The major reasons behind these attacks are the distribute nature of the World Wide Web. These attacks also occur due to the manipulation of Internet of Things and mobile devices. 

 Consequently, Cyber experts are implementing practices and technologies to secure electronic data and computer systems. To improve these practices, businesses are now adopting Cyber Security measures. Cyber Security measures minimise criminal activities and secure information.  

Are you interested in acquiring skills to mitigate cyber-related risks? Then, register with the CCNA Cybersecurity Operation Training now! 

What is the importance of Cyber Security in business?

Here is why Cyber Security is important in business: 

1) Secures personal data: Personal Data is a vital resource for both individuals and businesses. However, the advent of digital technology is giving rise to privacy issues. A virus gathers confidential data of the organisation, such as usernames and passwords. Consequently, this can have a negative impact on the privacy of employees, customers, and organisations.

Cyber Security shields the data against internal threats carried out with a malicious intent or accidentally. Such threats occur due to the actions of previous employees, trusted partners, and third-party vendors. Cyber Security allows employees to use the internet freely without worrying about data breach threats.  

2) Protects business goodwill: Customer retention is the most critical factor for a business’s success. The success of a business is negatively impacted due to malware attacks or data breaches. 

Organisations that are unable to secure the personal information of customers will end up losing them in future. Hence, the organisation should have a tight security system to avoid such setbacks. To do this, organisations can adopt technologies like network security and cloud security for better authentication.  

3) Boosts productivity: The rapid evolution in technology is encouraging cybercriminals to develop new methods to breach and attack data. Most of the cybercriminals produce viruses that can disrupt the organisation’s overall operation. Viruses impact the productivity, networks, and workflows of the organisation negatively.

This can bring the organisation’s operation to a standstill. Businesses can implement Cyber Security strategies to get rid of these issues.

Firstly, businesses can boost their productivity by improving firewalls, virus scanning, automated backups, etc. Secondly, business should inform the employees about frauds, email phishing, suspect links, and suspicious activities. It helps to minimise violations and downtime.  

4) Regulatory bodies: The objective of regulatory bodies is to protect individual organisations and users. Some of the most important regulatory organisations are PCI DDS, HIPAA, GDPR, and SOX. 

Businesses are required to invest in an effective cybersecurity strategy as per the guidelines of the above-mentioned regulatory organisations. To do this, organisations can integrate an anti-virus, online content filtration, wireless security, and anti-spam measures with their IT infrastructure.  

5) Enhances Cyber posture: Cyber Security offers digital protection to firms. Consequently, employees can browse through the internet safely and flexibly. A good Cyber Security technology helps to assess the operations of systems with a click. It also teaches businesses how to respond after or during a cyber-attack.  

6) Improves data management: Data forms an important part of marketing strategies. Once the data and records related to marketing are lost, organisations must devise the strategy from scratch. Thus, it allows organisations to monitor the data for better implementation of data security regulations.

Apart from security measures, Cyber Security enhances operational efficiency. Additionally, data breaches can lead to huge loss of an organisation’s time and money.  

7) Imparts training to the workforce: An organisation’s safety can be improved by educating the employees about risks related to spyware, data breaches, and ransomware. It also offers a layer of protection to the daily operations of an organisation. Also, it prevents the employees from clicking malicious files and links.

An educated workforce can also create a response plan to cope with any potential issues. Employees will no longer have to consult the IT professionals to know if their security practices are aligned with the organisation’s security goals. Well-informed employees can help the business to achieve its long-term goals.  

8) Minimises website crashes: Small Businesses develop their website independently. So, these websites can crash easily due malware attacks. Malware attacks can slow down the loading time of websites. This can force the visitors to leave the page which can lead to a loss in revenue. Also, it leads to miscommunication and breach of trust between the consumers and the business. 

Do you want to professionally identify attacks and vulnerabilities before the infiltration? You can register with CompTIA Cybesecurity Analyst CySA+ Certification course now for Expert training and help. 

Types of Cyber Security   

Some of the most popular sorts of Cyber Security are as follows: 

Application Security: Application security is a security mechanism used by an application. The objective is to protect the data and code in the app from getting hijacked or stolen. Such security mechanisms are integrated in the application at the time of development. However, they can protect the app even after implementation.  

Cloud Security: Cloud Security involves the use of procedures and technology helpful in securing cloud-based data or cloud computing environments. It helps to protect the cloud computing environments against threats from external and internal attackers.  

Such security systems can prevent third-party and unauthorised access. Thus, the applications and data stored on the cloud are not exposed to Cyber Security threats.  

 Internet of Things (IoT): IoT helps to connect organisation’s devices to the Internet. The term ‘IoT’ describes the network that connects people and things. Here, the network describes the way in which data is shared and used in different environments. Some of the devices that are based on IoT are appliances, printers, televisions, sensors, and automated home devices.  

Network Security: Network Security helps to secure network infrastructure against theft, abuse, or unauthorised access. The objective of Network Security is to create a safe infrastructure to encourage transparent communication. Consequently, the environment allows users, applications, and devices to collaborate with each other.  

Are you an advanced professional with high experience and knowledge in a wide range of security areas? Then check out our Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect SC100 course now!  

Steps to implement Cyber Security  

The landscape of cyberthreat is evolving rapidly. So, businesses find it difficult to implement an effective cybersecurity measure. Businesses can follow Cyber Security measures such as risk identification, measurement, and assessment to cope with this issue. Additionally, enterprises can follow the below-mentioned steps to cope with this issue: 

Risks analysis and management: Organisations should have a risk-based strategy in place. Consequently, this helps to ensure security teams are familiar with the potential risks that the organisation might face in the near future. It helps the employees to take necessary steps to minimise the impacts of these risks on the organisation.  

Management of assets and inventory: Organisations should have a thorough understanding of their intangible and tangible assets. For example, organisations should be able to identify the risks that can impact these assets. Next, they should devise a strategy to address those risks with a strong Cyber Security measure.  

Minimise exposure to data breach: An organisation should be able to identify any risks related to data breaches and fix it quickly. It’s important to address risks that can aggravate in future.  

Implement access and identity management systems: Having an identify and access management system will help organisations to identify external and internal threats. Next, organisations should prevent these threats by denying access to data, services, and systems.  

Data security: Organisations can secure their data to prevent unauthorised use or access.  

Incident management strategy: A strong incident management strategy can reduce the damage and impact of cyber-attacks caused due to malware. It’s done by devising a response strategy and implementing it in real time.  

Supply chain safety: Organisations should have a third-party risk management team to identify the risks their third-party networks are exposed to. Next, the organisations should prioritise the supply chains that require better security than others. The organisations should safeguard both physical and information supply chains.  

To do this, an organised third-party risk management team should interact with key suppliers frequently. Most importantly, this team should implement Hyperledger and Blockchain strategies to secure the third-party supply chain network.  

Train employees: As per IBM, 49% out of total data breaches occur due to human error. Similarly, according to Stanford University’s study, 88% of data breaches occur due to human errors.  

The major reason behind such breaches is use of weak passwords, exposure to phishing scams, inability to install security and software updates on the systems. So, organisations should train their staff regularly. It helps the staffs to become familiar with a good cybersecurity measure and steps to implement it.  
 

How can you protect your business against Cyber Crime? 

Businesses can take a few basic steps to improve Cyber Security measures and minimise the threats related to cybercrime. Some of these steps are as follows: 

1) Educate employees: 90% out of the total breaches in the year 2019 occurred due to human error. So, this statistic highlights the how Cyber Security education imparted to employees can minimise Cyber Security risks. Cyber Security education helps employees to identify major data breaches and formulate strategies to avoid them. 

Besides, this training helps businesses to obtain the best value out of their Cyber Security investment. It is because it prevents the employees from breaking expensive Cyber Security rules that can lead to cybercrime.  

2) Securing your confidential data: Organisations should invest in resources that minimise loss of valuable information. Besides, the organisations must have tools to monitor fourth-party and third-party vendor risk. Next, a strategy should be implemented to learn about leaked confidential credentials and data exposure. 

Data leaks that are not resolved in real time can give access to cybercriminals. Cybercriminals can misuse this access and enter internal networks. As a result, this can encourage cybercriminals to breach confidential resources. To minimise such issues, organisations should implement a data leak discovery tool. This tool helps to assess leaks present across third-party networks.

Data breaches of up to 60% occur due to third-party providers. So, numerous data breach issues can be prevented when vendor data leaks are shut down.  

3) Devising a System Security Plan: A System Security Plan (SSP) summarises practices that are followed to enhance data security. A SSP helps in identification of security measures present in a system like software and hardware.

Additionally, it is used to measure the effectives of security training methods and outline incident-response plans. This plan also explains how to block the access of unauthorised users. SSP ensures employees are adhering to secure practices and able to respond to security breaches.  

4) Software updates: Several SMBs (Server Message Block) fail to update their software frequently. However, outdated software is vulnerable to numerous security issues. It is because Hackers invest their time to gain information about recent software updates. Next, they target businesses that have not adopted this software to date.  

5) Use of secure password policies: Organisations should never recycle the passwords. Besides, organisations should update the passwords frequently. It's also important to avoid the use of simple passwords as they are easy to crack. So, it is highly recommended for you to use passwords that include more than eight to nine characters. A complicated password enhances security.  

6) Outsource Cyber Security: You can choose any other alternative if you are unable to manage your Cyber Security issues independently. Small organisations can save their time by outsourcing their Cyber Security tasks to leading IT companies. 

Organisations can also implement simple measures like using an anti-ransomware or anti-malware technology. Companies can lower their Cyber Security risks such as malware attacks by using an updated software.  

Conclusion  

So, now we know that Cyber Security measures should be taken to secure servers, electronic systems, data, networks, computers, and networks against unauthorised access, misuse, and malicious attacks. Organisations should put necessary efforts to secure their data from hackers. To enhance your skills and gain in-depth knowledge in Information security you can register in our CISSP Training courses now.