Do You Have Confidence in Your IT Security Posture?

Did you know that more than 88% of small businesses believe that they are vulnerable to breaches in cyber security?

Considering this large statistic, you shouldn't feel alone if you are not all that confident in your IT security posture. However, if you aren't confident in your cyber security posture, this doesn't mean that you should sit around and accept it. 

Instead, if you care about your business and the information it holds, you will want to do whatever you can to improve your IT security. Fortunately, there are many ways in which you can improve your IT security posture. One of the first things you should do is run a security posture assessment. 

But what is a security posture assessment and what does it do exactly? Keep reading more below and learn all about it. 

Why You Need to Run a Security Posture Assessment 

When you assess your security posture, you need to take a close look at all of your security systems. You also need to examine how those systems will withstand cyber attacks. Depending on the quality of your security systems, your security posture may be good or bad or it may simply be average.

Some of your systems may be better prepared than others against cyber attacks. If your company holds a lot of important information, the last thing you want is for that information to fall into the wrong hands. For that reason, when you run a security posture assessment, you will want to identify every weak spot that your systems have. 

That way, you can start the process of building up your security posture like never before. But where should you start? First, you will want to ask yourself a few important questions.

Do you have a good understanding of the different kinds of cyber security threats that could affect your systems? Do you have an idea of how your different security systems will handle different types of cyber security threats? How well can your security systems detect potential threats and attacks and how well can those systems respond to those attacks?

Prioritise the Most Dangerous Cyber Security Risks

Cyber attacks and threats come in all different shapes and sizes. Some will only function to irritate or slightly weaken your company, while others can take down your entire company all at once. Because some threats are so much more dangerous than others, you will want to prioritise the most dangerous threats and work from there. 

Working with a cyber security professional can help you work all this out. A professional will tell you what spots in your security system need to be much stronger to deal with severe cyber attacks. A professional will also tell you where you should put most of your cyber security resources. 

That way, you can rest easy knowing that the most important data of your company is safe. In a way, doing this is a bit like triaging your company's information. Your company will, of course, have different types of data and some types are much more important than others. 

In the event of a cyber attack, you may need to sacrifice your company's less important data in favour of the more important data. Even if cyber attackers get a hold of some of your company's data, it is better that the data isn't all that important in the first place.

That way, if the data falls into the wrong hands, it won't be able to accomplish much anyway and you will be able to recover and keep running your company. 

But the story would be quite different if your company's most important data follows this path. Not only could this be detrimental to your company, but this kind of data breach could also be dangerous for whoever relies on your company and has submitted information to your company.

Analyse Security Weaknesses

For example, if a bank suffers a security breach and loses much of its information to cyber attackers, this means that the private financial and personal information of thousands of people could end up in the wrong hands. 

This would be disastrous. To prevent this from happening, you will want to make sure that your company's most important data is better protected than any other part of your security system. That way, there will be a very slim chance that any cyber attackers will ever get to that information. 

Again, a cyber security expert can help you with this. An expert will have the skills and tools to analyse weaknesses in your company's security system, especially any weaknesses that might expose your company's most sensitive data.

By draining your security resources into the protection of your company's core data, you will, in a way, be surrounding this data with a thick shell of protective armour.

As a result, most, if not all, cyber attackers will not be able to get to this information. This will improve your security posture drastically. But there is still one more thing you should do to become more confident in your IT security posture: come up with an incident management plan. 

Creating a Good Incident Management Plan

An incident management plan focuses on how your company's security system needs to function in reaction to a cyber security incident. This plan should outline different cyber threats and how your security system will react to each of these threats. This plan will also cover how your security system will recover once the threat is mitigated. 

Every step in your incident management plan is very important. If you miss one step, the entire plan could crumble to pieces and your security system would be all over the place. This would not be very helpful in the case of an actual cyber attack. 

To start, you will want to plan how your security system will first handle an oncoming cyber attack. The security system should already be in good shape, but it should be prepared to handle the situation if a particularly severe cyber attack comes to fruition.

For example, there are certain technologies that have automated processes that allow them to detect and mitigate cyber security threats. 

Automated Processes

Automated processes are ideal for several reasons. First, they are much faster than manual processes. Second, they are much more efficient and have a better eye for detail.

That way, if a cyber threat does come around, these automated processes will already have everything handled. 

In a way, this kind of technology can stop cyber threats before they even come close to your company's data. More than that, you can use these automated security processes throughout your security system. You can even input them into various software and applications. 

That way, every part of your company will have a certain level of protection. For your incident management plan, you will also want to think about what kind of procedures should follow in a cyber attack. Your security system should work in a very fluid and efficient way so that when an attack does happen, the security system will stop it before it does any real damage. 

Ideally, your security system will be secure against all types of cyber attacks. The most common attacks should be the most prioritised. However, protecting against smaller and less common attacks is also important. 

Become More Confident in Your Security Posture

Your security posture is no laughing matter. If your company's security system is not in good shape, it will eventually fall victim to a cyber attack. To prevent this, you will want to assess your security system, prioritise the most dangerous risks, and come up with an incident management plan.

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