What do you do if your Cybersecurity goals seem overwhelming?

Remember, cybersecurity is an ongoing process, not a one-time fix. It’s about building resilience and adapting to new challenges as they arise. In the past I have focused on the following 1. Determine what aspects of cybersecurity are most critical for your organisation or personal needs. 2. For each priority area, define clear and measurable objectives. 3. Assign realistic deadlines to each objective. 4. Determine what resources are needed for each task—be it time, personnel, or technology. 5. Develop a detailed action plan for each objective. Break down each goal into tasks that can be accomplished daily or weekly. 6. Regularly review your progress against the timeline and adjust your plan as necessary.

Cybersecurity is not a project! - Seek support with specialists, - Analyze your situation, - Prioritize based on risks, - Create a plan, procedures and policies, Cybersecurity needs continuous attention!

As a security practioner achieving true peace with your cybersecurity initiatives can feel like climbing Mount Everest- Endless checklists , countless strategy meetings. Since centuries, the only way even the toughest terrain is betean is by "taking one step at a time", digital world is not any different. a) Chunk it up in small milestones: Focus on one achievable task at a time – employee password training this week, system vulnerability scans next. b) Celebrate small wins:Each completed task is a victory lap! Acknowledge your progress and stay motivated c) Seek support squad: Don't be a lone wolf. Suddenly, even the Everest can become a manageable hike, one security step at a time.

When faced with mountain it is easy to be intimidated by its size. Set your goal to be climbing the mountain, but set your sights on the next step. Many things seem intimidating when looked at as a whole, and even when broken down into steps it can seem like an insurmountable list. Instead, sometimes it is best to focus only on the next step, not the next couple.

When Cybersecurity goals become overwhelming, it's crucial to break them down into manageable tasks, prioritize objectives, and create a roadmap with realistic timelines. Seek support and collaboration from colleagues and stakeholders, leveraging established frameworks and best practices to guide your efforts. Monitor progress, adjust strategies as needed, and celebrate achievements along the way to maintain motivation. Take care of yourself and your team, manage stress, and prioritize continuous learning to stay informed about emerging threats and technologies. Stay positive, persistent, and focused on improving your organization's security posture, recognizing that tackling cybersecurity challenges is an ongoing journey.

Your 'yes' filter is crucial - every 'yes' to the unimportant task is a 'no' to your priorities. Prioritisation is a key to achieve your cyber goals. a) Target the biggest threats first: Understand the impact of threat to your organisation , don't go by their generic definitions or advisories. Sometimes, Fixing a medium rated vulnerability for an external facing customer information handling app is more important than fixing severe rated vulnerability for an internal development environment server hosting or connecting to nothing. b) Day to day scheduling very important ."The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." c)Quick wins = momentum boosters. Conquer those smaller tasks!

When you have a lot of cybersecurity goals, prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance. Break down your goals into smaller steps and focus on the most important tasks first. This approach helps you feel less overwhelmed and allows you to make progress slowly. By doing tasks in a systematic way, you can feel in control and work toward achieving your cybersecurity goals.

When you prioritize your tasks or your deliverables, understand the impact of your tasks. We often confuse movement with progress. You can move a lot, but still not get anywhere. Which action items will have the most impact? Then understand how important that impact is in the scheme of the entire organisation. Perhaps you may feel it is the most important task, but you COO or CEO or your Board thinks differently. The other bridge is to clearly understand and communicate the impact of your prioritized tasks in your internal and external stakeholder's map of the world. That's how you get buy in early on, and not when problems turned into emergencies or crises.

The first step in achieving any goal is making a plan to meet that goal. Cybersecurity goals are no different. Create a cybersecurity strategy that will guide you in designing and implementing your information security program. This plan should outline your goals — the assets you intend to protect, the threats you’re protecting them from, the metrics you’ll use to measure your security function, and how your cybersecurity goals will protect your business.

Use a framework like the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize tasks based on their urgency and importance. Focus first on tasks that are both urgent and important. Once prioritized then you can use the 4 Ds to see what must be Done, what can be Delegated, what can be Deferred, and what can be Deleted.

Here is where Artificial Intelligence can function as an incredible ally and co-pilot. You want to free up your mental bandwidth to communicate cyber risk, to influence cyber hygiene habits, to come up with solutions that drive and build a healthy security culture. AI can't do that, that requires a human mind and heart. But what AI can do is to automate and help you build systems for repetitive tasks that don't require your previous mental energy.

If Cybersecurity goals seem overwhelming, use tools to streamline processes and improve efficiency. Use project management software, task tracking tools, or cybersecurity platforms to set goals, set deadlines, and keep track of progress. Automation tools can handle routine tasks, freeing up time to plan and address high-priority issues. Technology can help you achieve complex goals and reduce the feeling of overwhelm.

Don't fall for shiny objects: We all love new toys, but I always ask myself "Does this solve a problem I actually have? Or is it just tech for tech's sake?" Automation with a brain: A poorly set up tool is worse than useless. We need to be the ones making sure alerts are relevant, not just a flood of noise. Can we make existing systems work together better? That's sometimes more valuable than a fancy new gadget. Humans are the secret sauce, yes this is true. Tools find things, but we figure out what they mean. That judgment call is what makes us irreplaceable.

1. Free online corses: The internet's a treasure trove of knowledge! Free online courses offer bite-sized learning modules, filling your knowledge gaps without breaking the bank. 2. Industry certifications : invest in yourself . CISSP , AWS , Azure Ec-council , ISACA courses are quite insightful. 3. Nothing beats practical experience: Whatever you learn in these training courses, implement those concepts, get your hands dirty. You'll go from overwhelmed to a cybersecurity champion, one learned skill at a time.

I would recommend the online course. Choose a course that is free and has no expiration date. This is because while working, you can learn without the cost and without having to worry about the expiration date. Still, to learn the technical aspects, I recommend that young engineers get their certification CEH. For those who aspire to management positions, we recommend the CISSP.

plan to review your strategy, controls, and ISMS Regularly, consider using a smart tool that will help you monitor your controls, the safety of your network, and any threats that might directly impact your organization.

If you want to be better at Cybersecurity, keep learning and improving. Spend time learning new things and improving your skills through classes, certifications, and workshops. This makes you better and more sure of yourself when faced with difficult situations. Keep up with the newest ideas, tools, and methods to quickly respond to changing threats. Learning new skills regularly can help you reach your goals more easily and quickly.

Don't just learn, DO: New cert is meaningless unless it changes how I address our risks. Embrace the boring: I hate policy stuff, but that's the gap I had to fill, not just the fun tech parts. Mentor others: Explaining a vulnerability to the boss forces me to understand it deeply. That's the best kind of learning. Pace yourself: We can't stay up on every threat 24/7. Burnout is a real risk, balance is key to staying sharp long-term.

Personally for me, I have built my career and all the success, learning from the best in the field of cyber. Learning from experts has 2 aspects . 1) finding humble, greatly successful yet accessible mentors aligned to your values . 2) most underrated requirement is one should be eager to learn, ask rights questions , be perceptive and ready to do tons of research . keep your bowl empty so that you let it fill-up with knowledge of others.

If you are a military veteran, and you can sign up for something called the ACP the mentorship program. This program pairs you up but the professional in the field that you want to become a part of. ???? I personally used it seeking lots of support, and was paired up with a cybersecurity professional in a Fortune 500 company. I highly recommend this service, as it is free to every military veteran. To those who were not in the military, and seeking support in cyber security, I have found many resources on Discord, & cybersecurity communities such as a OWASP, and 2600 ????? ??I think it's very important too expresses issues with your leadership as well, as it is too easy to sponsor an employee for more education, resources, and tools.??

One of the biggest mistakes is to rely on IT. Seek support with special Cybersecurity specialists or partners because it's more then IT and you need special knowledge.

As an aspiring cybersecurity analyst, I like to involve myself in projects my colleagues who are experts are working on, this really helps in terms of experience and it would really help when you ask questions or seek resolution as it will boost your confidence when faced with a project.

Flexibility is required because it is not done as planned. Priorities must be set and addressed. We only discuss, conclude, and implement vulnerability scans or network intrusions, social engineering, and recovery issues as priorities.

Any list of cybersecurity goals would be overwhelming if they are not supported with an appropriate budget, resources, timelines and objectives aligned to the goals With proper planning around having the required budget for set goals and the best resources to support the goals should help Additionally, putting realistic timelines around achieving the same and setting the order of priority for the goals should also advance the goal objectives and outcomes

Do not rely on information, search the Internet and research. Modern society is an information society. We are inundated with information. There is a mixture of harmful and harmless information. It is necessary to be discerning. The importance of learning through online courses. Participate in the community, attend events, and engage in discussions. Subscribe to newsletters and stay up-to-date. Get expert opinion, advice and guidance. Networking. Utilize Linkedin services through social media.

Overwhelmed customers are a lot of times also concerned about costs. They see a lot of work, tools, partners etc. You can control costs much better if you work according a plan instead of taking ad-hoc measures.

It all starts with communication so think about talking with your boss about these and being realistic. Make sure that goals are backed up with appropriate resources if needed too.