For this series of blog posts, I’m going to do things a little differently. Instead of talking in detail about one topic or aspect of cybersecurity, I’m going to be going over some steps you can take to master cybersecurity effectively.
First, you need to understand that cybercrime is a serious problem, and it’s only going to get more serious as technology progresses. So far, the total financial loss due to cybercrime is four hundred billion dollars every year.
Cybercriminals are not just a bunch of teenagers in their parents’ basements, causing mischief; most are organized efforts to trick people out of their money. They are employees with HR departments, managers, payroll, and everything else a valid company would have, except they are in the business of scamming you.
When you pay cybercriminals ransoms (see my last series on ransomware), there will always be a phone number you can call where a friendly person will guide you through buying and paying them in cryptocurrency. It is a concerted effort.
Second of all, you need to understand what the risks are. For example, cloud computing is a relatively new innovation that has changed cybersecurity for the better by securely storing information online. But new systems mean new problems, such as bugs, technical jargon, improper use, and just learning how everything works.
Do you know what risks come with cloud computing, and what steps do you need to take to manage those risks? It’s something to think about with all of the technology that has been brought into the mainstream. You must also consider what you could lose if these risks are not mitigated; the consequences can be as bad as an overnight collapse and bankruptcy.
The third thing you should do is to make sure your organization has cyber resilience. When I say cyber resilience, I mean how quickly your organization can recover from a cyberattack, such as whether or not you can stay in business during an attack or if your PR can keep up.
Your team needs to be trained for cyber emergencies to have cyber resilience, just like everyone is trained to evacuate if the office is on fire. Your team, in this case, is every one that is employed at your organization. But why does everyone in your organization need to be trained about your cybersecurity procedures? I’ll explain why in the next post when I reveal the most crucial thing that you need to understand to master cybersecurity.