Pratum Blog

Validating Vendors' Cybersecurity Practices

How much is too much? The biggest mistake many organizations make is spending too much money on things they don’t need when reviewing their cybersecurity. While tools like technology can be valuable at times, cybersecurity should be focused on the business.

In cybersecurity, there are a lot of security options available to help protect your business. Trying to keep up with all the latest and greatest trends can be expensive, and often unnecessary. Instead, try to focus on what makes your business secure!

A good first step is to assess the make-up of cybersecurity.

Three Pillars of Cybersecurity:

  • Confidentiality – Keeping things safe and secure. Determine what’s on a need to know basis.
  • Integrity – Is the data you saved the same data you come back to? Have unauthorized changes been made that aren’t known or detected?
  • Availability – Is data available to those who need it, when they need it?

The three pillars help you determine which cybersecurity controls to put in place. What happens to your business if the system is offline, data is corrupted, or secrets are exposed? How you answer these questions will determine the next steps in your cybersecurity plan, and whether you need to spend money on more security.

Find the biggest risk to your business.

First, look at your business and see what would happen if the three pillars are impacted? Find the area you have the greatest likelihood of being attacked, and where the biggest impact would be. That’s where you need to begin to address what is necessary to keep your business secure.

Defense in depth is a cybersecurity best practice. You should create a plan to deter, prevent, detect and respond to security incidents. Think of it this way, – “Can I deter an attck? If not, can I prevent it? If I stop the problem at one level, a threat might still get through. If that happens, how do I detect the attack and then recover? Where could it go next, and how do I address it from there?”

You should think of your cybersecurity in layers. Each layer has different controls in place to address the threat potential at that point in the process. That means your process should be adapting over time to match any changes to your company. When your business grows or evolves, so should your cybersecurity plan.

What’s worth the investment?

Investing in cybersecurity is all about prioritizing your risk versus the cost. When you analyze security expenses for technology or process or personnel, you need to be able to show a return on that investment. If something is reducing your risk of being hacked, or gives you an edge over the competition, it’s probably worth the investment. If it’s not helping you earn or keep money, don’t waste resources on it. It’s all about perspective.

While you want to be critical of where your money is spent, you should be investing in your cybersecurity. One efficient use of money is investing in the people who work for you.

Teaching your employees how to handle situations like a phishing email or a suspicious person in the building will protect your security interests. Once people learn how to respond to threats and why cybersecurity is important, proper security processes and awareness will continue to protect your business.

Focus less on technology and more on business.

The goal of most businesses is to generate profits. If a process or technology does not provide or protect profit, it should not drive your business decisions. What you should strive for is decision-making based on business objectives, the technology will follow.

As your business evolves, so should your cybersecurity. Constantly evaluate what is happening in your business to decide what investments should be made. Don’t just throw money at one thing, expecting it to fix all your problems. Understanding what the problem is, how it should be handled, and who should be involved will help you decide if technology investments are needed.


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