You would never leave the doors of your organization unlocked after hours. You will ensure that you have added enough security cameras to capture any moment, have a fool-proof security system, and even hire a security guard for extra protection. It would be unimaginable to leave a facility unattended. Despite this, numerous business owners exit their digital doors wide open and their financial assets unsecured daily. They are unaware that malicious hackers will launch countless ransomware attacks repeatedly until they discover an open virtual door. When inside, such evil people can cause damage to infrastructure, data exfiltration, or retain a company’s data hostage until a premium is paid. As a result, cyber security is just as crucial as physical security. This blog will discuss the significance of cyber security and the role of executives in maintaining it.
What is Cyber Security?
Cyber security refers to the technologies, processes, and practices used to secure networks, devices, and programs, from attack, damage, or unauthorized access. It includes the following:
- Network security is in charge of safeguarding the infrastructure against malicious attacks.
- User or identity management determines who has direct exposure to a company’s data assets.
- Application security entails maintaining software and testing it against potential attacks.
- Endpoint security safeguards devices that provide remote connections to corporate servers.
- Database security safeguards data in transit and rest in a business’s databases.
- Data security is an additional layer of defense for a business’s customer and company data.
- Mobile and cloud security preserves the network to maintain assets from remote locations in real-time.
- Executive security entails the policies and best practices to secure the company’s top management with maximum exposure to the company’s sensitive data and the highest risk chances.
Why is Cyber Security Important?
Cyber security preserves an organization’s digital assets like sensitive data, clients details, financial data, patents, and intellectual property. Stolen data can be auctioned to contenders or foreign states or lead to identity fraud or financial mismanagement.
As per IBM’s Data Security Report, a data leak can cost a company up to 3.6M USD, with client loss accounting for one-third of that. The estimated cost for small to medium-sized businesses is around 200K USD. It requires approximately 206 days to identify a data leak and about 73 more days to contain it, regardless of the organization’s size. Control may necessitate external resources, and non-compliance may lead to fines.
Enterprises with more resources face a significant financial loss, but they have higher chances of surviving the attack. However, a minor data breach of a smaller company may end up winding the business altogether. More than 60% of small companies shut down in just six months of a cyber attack.
Common Cyber Security Threats
Cyber attacks can manifest in many ways. Some people use extreme strength to access the system or encryption keys. Others employ more advanced methods, such as phishing, malware, and more. Here is a quick overview of some of them.
Ransomware Attack:
Ransomware is a form of malicious code that challenges or prevents access to information or system software, generally by encrypting it, unless the victim pays a massive ransom to the hackers. In several cases, the ransom demand is accompanied by a time limit. In case of timely payment failure, you risk permanent data loss or raised ransom.
Phishing Attack:
Phishing is a type of social engineering attack. It involves manipulating the victim to share sensitive data. Hackers imitate someone you trust and send malicious emails to trick you into revealing financial data, passwords, and other sensitive information.
Business Email Compromise
Email is used in BEC attacks to mislead an organization into processing payments to a fake account. To access a corporate server, an email address is damaged. From there, hackers will prowl the device for data to enable them to start a request for payment from a genuine vendor by sharing new account details for the money transfer. As soon as you complete the payment, hackers transfer the funds to another account to make recovering the funds impossible. Once the original vendor asks for the payment, it is too late for the company to realize and fix the error.
Mobile Attacks
Mobile security attacks are among the most widespread cyber attacks. Mobile phone attacks now account for over 60% of all cyber attacks, including phishing attacks, SIM swaps, stolen passwords, and more.
MiTM Attack
A Man in The Middle attack occurs when an offender inserts himself into an ongoing interaction between a user and an application, perhaps to spy or imitate one of the sides, giving the impression that a usual sharing of information occurs. The attack aims to collect sensitive information like passwords, banking information, and credit card details. Collected data can be used for identity fraud, money transfer, or unauthorized password changes.
Role of Executives in Cyber Security
Cyber security’s final goal is to recognize, handle, and react to an event since it is no longer a question of “if” but “when & how” a cyber attack will take place.
Developing the required resilience necessitates more than just cutting-edge advanced technologies. Any firm’s success is dependent on improved teamwork between people, technology, and processes.
Especially when it comes to cyber security, IT teams are not the only ones accountable for maintaining a successful system; executives must also be involved. The involvement of the top management is critical to driving successful information security. They can persuade employees to use assets by company policy. As business executives, you can both impose the significance of cyber security and act as role models.
Here is how an executive should involve in creating and implement a robust cyber security plan for the organization:
- Create a fool-proof cyber security policy.
- Ensure that the organization has enough resources to secure the system and maintain its security.
- Provide timely cyber security awareness training to the company and clients.
- Analyze the risks with the security team and finalize a prevention plan to secure the organization from the threats.
- Involve in the process to come up with ways to fight a threat.
- Understand and acknowledge the importance of executive security and adapt the ways to stay secure.
- Hold a monthly or quarterly meeting to discuss cyber risks with technical and non-technical staff and the solutions and prevention methods.
Collaboration among security experts and corporate executives can enhance an organization’s response to attacks and other occurrences in information security. This teamwork has the potential to change a firm’s collective mindset and, as a result, improve its overall safety. So, in reality, executive governance and a devoted IT department are not enough to drive adequate cyber security. It is interactive teamwork of all individuals within a company.
