Here's how you can safeguard your organization with cybersecurity measures and protocols.

To safeguard your organization with cybersecurity measures and protocols, consider the following steps: - Inform employees on typical cybersecurity issues and ensure they understand security measures. - Use firewalls to eliminate malware, viruses, and spam. - Encrypt passwords to protect sensitive information. - Establish a plan to handle breaches and ensure the team knows how to respond. - Perform periodic audits to ensure compliance with cybersecurity policies and identify vulnerabilities. - Stay informed about new threats and update measures accordingly. - Regularly review and update controls to ensure they remain adequate.

While most risk assessments follow a robust process that focus on finding weak spots in the digital asset landscape, many organisations fail to consider the human aspect. Technology assets are managed by people, and despite all best intentions, mistakes happen. It is imperative to foster a safe learning environment where mistakes are handled in a manner that promotes operational excellence. Otherwise, we risk following an important process aiming reveal issues that people would be reluctant to disclose.

First assess for potential vulnerabilities. This includes networks, systems, identity management, access, and employee awareness of their role in protecting your organization's digital assets. If the cyber security tools are disparate and redundant, this could be a vulnerability too. Simplify and streamline while ensuring digital protections, including two factor authentication. Consider leveraging a partner to operate your AI enabled Security Operations Center. Key components of a comprehensive cyber security program include people skilling, process modernization, AI tools, and a modern, unified geographical approach (SOC).

Policy development is only as good as policy enforcement and policy administration. At its basic level, decentralized identity and verifiable credential systems is an automated real-time zero-trust architecture policy engine. It combines the processing functions of machine-readable, real-time, policy development; governance; administration; and compliance. It does this affordably, as a lightweight middleware add-in, and quite simply through its inherent live and real-time transaction policy decision and policy enforcement points within any enterprise system architecture.

After having an third party cybersecurity assessment and according to recommendations, should be important to build policies that will allow all the organization be aware and understand possible risks, policies will also help awareness.

We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training. Or guidelines. 1. Serious problems have the habit of arising when the right persons are not available. When we prepare guidelines, processes and documentation, we prepare it for the moment, when everything went wrong and the right people are not there. 2. We usually fall under a few certifications and our guidelines will be audited. 3. You must find a way for them to be part of the usual day to day activities. A process handbook from which nobody know where it is, is no help. We need people to see the entry point to the guidelines and documentation on a regular basis or nobody will find them when they are really needed.

Protecting customer data is a top priority for CX teams. Health records, payment information, sales reports, contact details are all valuable information that need to be protected. The best measure is to allow access only on a need to know basis. Strong firewalls, remote monitoring, read-only access, blocking random sites all help in one way or another. The foundation however is to have a crystal clear do & don’t policy that is refreshed and reminded to everyone often. Cybersecurity is a critical business assurance we must extend to our customers.

Training is vital towards developing the culture of security every organization needs. Smaller organizations can get started following the work of organizations like SecureTheVillage and the Cyber Readiness Institute. Beyond formal training, owners and executives of smaller businesses and nonprofits can talk about security in meetings, they can emphasize the importance of skepticism to avoid falling for a phishing attack, and they can avoid the blame game that too often follows phishing tests. All of this “extra-curricular” training pays big dividends as it goes to inculcate the necessary cultural cybersecurity norms.

Establishing a cyber training activity is critical, but it's essential to recognise that even the best training programmes are only roughly 70% effective. Training should be repeated and reinforced far more frequently than you might think. Customise the information for different roles within your organisation, utilising engaging materials such as movies, interactive modules, and real-life scenarios to keep it relatable and simple. Choose a blended learning method that mixes online modules with in-person workshops to accommodate different learning styles and assure clarity. By keeping the training short, relevant, and consistently repeated, you can dramatically improve its effectiveness.

Let's talk about cybersecurity. You know, human error often cracks the shield. That's why training programs are crucial. Teach your team the ropes of cybersecurity. Make them spot those sneaky phishing scams. Regular sessions? Absolutely. Keep cybersecurity buzzing in their brains. This way, your staff becomes your frontline warriors against cyber threats. It's not just about fancy tech; it's about smart people. Empower your team, and watch them guard your business like pros. Remember, a trained team is a strong team. Let’s get proactive and make cybersecurity everyone's business!

Cybersecurity training is often associated solely with IT or CISOs, but any employee has the potential to pose a cybersecurity threat. The entire organization can be vulnerable to various risks. As managers, we are responsible for raising awareness about these risks and providing training to mitigate them. Ongoing training is crucial for maintaining the company's security.

People are your weakest link and bad actors know it. Don’t hesitate to train, test and retrain your teams. Digital vigilance is not enough because bad actors are targeting your people 24/7. In fact bad actors probably know more about your individual team members than you do. Remember that cyber attacks are big business for organised crime. Cyber gangs are smart, ruthless and relentless. You must be the same.

While your IT team is important, they are sometimes overburdened with various tasks and are prone to errors, and the threat landscape evolves too quickly for any individual to keep up with on their own. Begin by scanning for vulnerabilities with free tools; there are numerous reputable solutions available that can detect flaws in your network without incurring major costs. Regular vulnerability scans can help you stay ahead of potential threats by providing information on your vulnerabilities. Complement these scans with automatic reporting that can discover and notify you of new threats in near real-time.

Security, by definition, accepts a certain amount of risk, and that risk is the gateway for threats. It's a challenge to align security with the maturity level of the organization and its capabilities. Merely using the most modern technology doesn't guarantee the most effective solution for the company. The key to a good security scheme is finding the delicate balance between being protected and feeling comfortable with the accepted risk. This may sound straightforward, but it demands significant prior work. There is no secure network as the one with whom nobody connects.

There are three types of people. A group of them that don't care, another group of people that follow the policies, and the third group of people that are so afraid of making mistakes in cyber security issues. Each of those groups need their individual type of training.

Securing your network isn't just a technical task; it's a must-do to keep your digital operations humming smoothly. Think of firewalls and encryption as your digital bouncers, keeping unwanted guests out. Make sure your Wi-Fi isn't an open door — lock it down tight. When your team is working remotely, VPNs are your best friends. And hey, don’t forget to update and patch your systems regularly. It's like giving your network a flu shot and keeping those pesky cybercriminals away. Keep it tight, keep it secure. Your business depends on it.

It's not writing the incident response plan that's particularly challenging for smaller organizations. A good starting point is the Cyber Readiness Institute's Cyber Readiness program. The real challenge lies in practicing the plan. That's why SecureTheVillage built ongoing Incident Response Table Top competitions into our learn-by-doing, team-based delivery model.

Even with robust measures in place, breaches can occur. Be prepared with an incident response plan detailing steps to take during a cybersecurity event. This plan should include identifying the breach, containing the damage, eradicating the threat, recovering systems, and communicating with stakeholders. A well-practiced response plan can minimize the impact of a cyber attack on your company.

Make sure you have a streamlined and effective workflow for incident response. Moreover, incident response can be a great input in documentation for your iteration on your cybersecurity processes and improvements. Many Lessons Learned come from the actual moment when you establish your cybersecurity systems and gather actual real data on its performance when in production. For that keeping track of the ISO27001 and best practices and having a good mapping of requirements, risks and their underlined incident procedures - is the best way to go.

Cyber breaches happen, even when you're prepared. So, what's the plan? You need a rock-solid incident response plan. Here's how you do it: spot the breach. Contain the damage. Eradicate the threat. Recover your systems. Talk to your stakeholders. It’s like a fire drill for cyber attacks. Practice it. Know it by heart. This will help you bounce back faster and keep the damage to a minimum. Stay ready, and you'll handle anything that comes your way.

Involving stakeholders in this process is critical; they must understand the various responses and their roles. Stakeholders should communicate these protocols to their teams, and the organization must rehearse the response to various scenarios, including tabletop exercises, simulations, and regular drills. Cybersecurity is a team sport, and many SMBs need to better prepare for the inevitable incident. I’ve seen cases where functional leaders didn’t take the threats seriously or had the attitude that it would happen to someone else. By fostering a culture of readiness and collaboration, organizations can minimize the impact of an attack and ensure a better coordinated response.

After you implement policies for cybersecurity, it important to have a pulse on how this are evolving, also hire an external advisory to complement your internal processes, more important considering technology changed and need to be updated.

Continuous monitoring is essential for maintaining a proactive security posture. By employing advanced monitoring tools and techniques, organizations can detect and respond to threats in real-time. This includes tracking network traffic, analyzing logs, and utilizing AI-driven anomaly detection systems. Continuous monitoring provides valuable insights into potential security incidents and helps identify trends that could indicate emerging threats. By maintaining vigilance through continuous monitoring, organizations can stay ahead of cyber adversaries and protect their critical assets more effectively.

Finally, continuous monitoring is key. Cyber threats are always evolving, and so must your defenses. This isn't a one-time task but an ongoing process. Regularly updating your systems and monitoring for suspicious activity can feel like a relentless job, but it's a necessary one to ensure sustained security.

Organisations can't afford to be complacent about cyber security. Continuous monitoring of the IT systems, including network traffic, logs and user activity, provides constant vigilance against threats. This real-time approach allows them to spot suspicious behaviour quickly and take action to prevent minor issues from turning into major breaches. Regular checks for vulnerabilities and simulated attacks further strengthen defences by identifying weaknesses. Having a clear plan for how to respond to incidents ensures a swift and effective recovery, minimising damage. In today's digital world, continuous monitoring is essential for protecting data, assets and overall resilience against ever-evolving cyber threats.

Digital identity is the cornerstone of security. Today's federated identity often acts as a trojan horse for even the purest zero-trust architected enterprise operations. Available today are decentralized identity systems that inherently include automated real-time continuous monitoring including governance/oversight for digital identity activity, privileged access activity for role-based, attribute-based, geo-based privacy-compliant credentials, and immutable log files for activity and access, and interaction to high value systems and data.

The hardest thing for smaller organizations to do is maintain focus and attention on cybersecurity. The ordinary work day of a small business is oriented towards sales, the delivery of products and services, HR, and revenue collection. Unless information risk is proactively managed, inertia will take over and the business will revert to business as usual. The SecureTheVillage learn-by-doing, team-based delivery model is specifically designed to overcome this built-in inertia. Working in Cohorts with the aid of a Guide, these smaller businesses benefit by being part of a community that cares.

You need to hire a company like Palo Alto Networks to first evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. Creating a solution and evaluating your plan is only effective when you consult with experts.

I'll say a continuous risk identification and assessment is key. Also recruit an expert in house or a firm that can help in this regard.