Cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly common. A cyber-attack is when an individual or an organization deliberately and maliciously attempts to breach the system of another individual or organization. While there is usually an economic goal, some recent attacks show that the destruction of data might also be the main goal. Among other kinds of cyber-attacks malware plays the most prominent role. It is usually leveraged through well-orchestrated social engineering attacks like Phishing attacks, exploiting the human element to gain access.
As an organization’s data grows, it becomes more difficult to protect it from cyber-attacks. Organizations are encouraged to hire a skilled cybersecurity partner, like Bluedot.com, for example, to ensure that their business data is adequately protected from cyber-attacks. This protection also goes a long way in maintaining data security compliance.
Solidifying Security compliance
Five practical steps can be taken to ensure solid cyber-security practices within your organization and maintain healthy compliance ratings.
Thorough Security Audits
Understanding and being aware of the present security situation in your organization is critical. Not just in terms of the safeguards in place, but also in terms of network infrastructure and services in existence and their configuration. This holds for all cloud environments too. Regular, thorough security audits can help attain this clarity. Vulnerability scanning, software bill of materials, physical infrastructure and configuration, and users and groups with their related rights and access should all be included in these audits. The findings of such an audit provide a reliable starting point for an organization to identify security flaws on the road to solid security compliance.
Software Patching
Patch management helps organizations lower their security risk by repairing vulnerabilities in their software and apps that are vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Patch management also guarantees that software and applications are up to date and running properly, resulting in increased system uptime. With the surge in cyber-attacks, regulatory agencies are increasingly requiring organizations to maintain compliance. Patch management is an important part of meeting compliance requirements.
It would, however, be a poor approach to apply new fixes to all systems in your organization as soon as they become available, without contemplating the consequences. Patch management should be deployed as part of a well-organized, and security-focused procedure.
Principle of least privilege
It can be intimidating to completely change your network access policies and permissions, but the benefits of Principles of Least Privilege are well worth the time and effort. The idea of least privilege applies to access control and asserts that an individual should only have the access privileges required to accomplish a specified job or task. This applies to cloud services too. Services should only have access as required.
First Line of defense through user education
Human error and bad user behaviors are the two weakest areas in any cyber-defense system, so organizations must educate and train their staff to keep them informed and conditioned to identify cyber risks, allowing them to act appropriately. The cost of allowing untrained and uninformed users access to business-critical systems and networks is always significant, especially in increasingly remote workforce contexts. Human error and risky activities such as weak passwords and connecting to unprotected Wi-Fi networks are circumstances that a malicious actor would be taking advantage of.
Policies and Procedures to react to a Cyber Breach
A comprehensive and methodical approach for reacting to reported data security incidents and breaches must be included in a Cyber Breach Policy. This policy is intended to standardize the company’s reaction to any reported breach or incident, ensuring that they are properly logged and managed following best practice principles. Standardized processes and procedures aid the organization’s ability to act ethically and respond effectively to preserve its information assets to the greatest extent possible.
Conclusion
Data management is likely to be a priority when an organization is focused on security compliance. It allows them to keep track of critical assets, determines whether they’re storing personally identifiable information about customers, and have a strategy in place in case of a breach. Having a compliance program improves discipline, instills appropriate cybersecurity practices in the organization, and streamlines data management. With help of an external specialist robust cyber security and comprehensive regulatory compliance is attainable.