Awareness vs Resilience | Closing the Cybersecurity Gap

Awareness vs Resilience | What makes a business cyber resilient? Hint: cyber awareness does not equate to cyber resilience. Check this out.

Awareness vs Resilience | To close the gap, companies must shift from a reactive to a proactive approach when implementing cyber security. For example, a cyber resilient organization invests in a cyber security ‘culture,’ so employees understand the importance of cyber security and feel like they are an active part of a comprehensive plan rather than just using technology to prevent data breaches.

Here’s how smart businesses adopt a cyber resiliency culture.

Executives must prioritize cyber security as a business concern.

According to the World Economic Forum and Accenture Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2022 study, 84% of respondents indicated that cyber resilience is a business goal in their organization that has leadership support and direction. However, only 68% of them believe that cyber resilience is a crucial aspect of their organization’s overall risk management strategy. According to security executives and IT specialists, they are still not involved in business decisions. This affects their ability to detect and identify security issues and in helping the company make better and safer business decisions.

Leaders set the tone for their companies and influence employees’ minds in ways they may not realize.

This is also true when developing a cyber resilience culture. Although some executives believe that cyber security is only the duty of IT and security departments, it truly belongs to everyone in the organization, including the C-suite. Executives can even inadvertently send the message that cybersecurity takes second place in other business concerns.

This could be due to a belief that security hinders rather than helps achieve organizational goals, or it could be due to executives failing to recognize the critical role employee behaviour plays in securing the firm.

Employees notice when leaders unwittingly convey that cyber security is a lower priority and modify their priorities appropriately.

To begin shifting the firm from a cyber-aware to a cyber-resilient state, the C-suite must support the importance of cyber security through both actions and words. To that end, executives should become acquainted with the cyber security issues confronting their organizations, bring IT to the table, promote good cybersecurity behaviours throughout the organization, and comprehend the cyber resilience challenges that their employees face.

Awareness vs Resilience | Cyber resilience is built by ongoing cyber security education.

Making cyber security education a company priority is one-way leaders can develop a culture of cyber resilience. Although most firms provide one-time security awareness training, a single session is insufficient to establish true cyber resilience.

Cyber risks are continuously developing, so providing staff with the information and confidence they need to keep up is critical.

Only in this manner will they be able to safeguard themselves, the company, and its consumers.

The risk profile of a business might also alter; For example, in the spring of 2020, several organizations abruptly shifted to a remote worker model. When this happens, employees need up-to-date training on identifying and addressing the cyber security risks that the organization is likely to face. For example, while all employees should learn how to protect their personal and work identities, this is especially true for those working from home. When employees are properly informed about how to protect themselves in the workplace, they are significantly less likely to fall victim to the next attack.

Also, as employees leave and new ones join, the organization loses valuable institutional cyber security expertise. This expertise is kept in-house thanks to continuous cyber security training. Finally, when a firm forces its personnel to attend regular security awareness training, it sends a message to them. Rather than disregarding cyber security, they are more likely to take it seriously and contribute to cyber resilient culture as a whole.

Leaders need to ensure that cyber resilience is not just everyone’s duty but everyone’s success by consistently reporting on cyber security achievements, such as publishing the number of attacks prevented publicly.

A cyber security plan is required for building cyber resilience.

While it may seem obvious, any organization that wants to become cyber resilient must implement a cyber security plan.

Without a plan, no one will know your organization’s cyber security strategy goals, let alone how far along you are in meeting those goals.

For example, a company must determine which business operations are critical, assess how they might be affected by a cyber attack, and develop a plan to mitigate those risks.

Employees are getting the message that the organization does not value cyber resilience and will shift their focus to the many other items on their plate if this important guidance is not provided. The company is also more inclined to spend on specific technologies rather than promoting secure employee habits and may invest in the wrong cyber security capabilities because it does not clearly understand its cyber security needs.

Another area where the C-suite can elevate cyber security to a high business priority and promote a culture of cyber resilience is through strong collaboration with IT and security teams. Leadership will have a greater chance of making educated business choices and transforming the firm from a reactive cyber security posture to a proactive one if they actively work with them in the process rather than outsourcing it to them.

If you currently have a cyber security plan, it’s worth taking another look to ensure it’s not outdated. It’s also critical to test key components of a cyber security strategy regularly, such as the incident response plan, to ensure they perform as intended and accomplish the desired result. It’s also good to ensure all staff understand why this cyber security plan exists and what it does. In this manner, people will understand their role in supporting the strategy and may even provide helpful input to improve it.

Awareness vs Resilience | Last Words

Many firms are cyber aware, but not nearly as many are cyber resilient. Transitioning from a reactive to a proactive cyber security posture takes time and demands substantial effort. CEOs must prioritize cyber security throughout the firm to foster a culture of cyber resilience. They should also implement ongoing cyber security training to help employees identify and manage cyber security risks as they change. A cyber security strategy supports everything, providing a common goal and transparency on how much progress is being made in that direction. Leaders can create a culture of cyber resilience by unifying the organization in this way.