What do you do if your Information Systems team is facing cybersecurity risks?

1 Assess the situation

When your information systems team is facing cybersecurity risks, the first step you should take is to assess the situation. You need to understand the nature, scope, and severity of the risks, as well as the potential consequences for your organization. Ask your team to provide a clear and concise report that outlines the sources and types of risks, such as malware or phishing; the vulnerabilities and exposures of your information systems; the assets and data at risk; and the impact and likelihood of the risks. This could include data breaches, service disruptions, or legal penalties.

2 Prioritize the actions

Prioritizing actions is the second step your information systems team should take when facing cybersecurity risks. You need to decide which risks are the most pressing and which ones can be deferred or accepted. To create a prioritized action plan, you and your team should identify objectives and outcomes, such as preventing, detecting, or responding to cyberattacks; determine the resources and responsibilities of the actions; define metrics and indicators, like risk reduction, incident response, or customer satisfaction; and set timelines and milestones, including deadlines, deliverables, or reviews.

4 Implement the plan

The fourth step you should take if your information systems team is facing cybersecurity risks is to implement the plan. Executing and monitoring the prioritized and communicated actions is essential to ensure that they are in line with your objectives and outcomes. To do this, you should support your team in carrying out preventive actions (e.g., installing patches, updating antivirus, or encrypting data), detective actions (e.g., scanning networks, auditing logs, or alerting users), responsive actions (e.g., isolating systems, restoring backups, or reporting incidents), as well as corrective actions (e.g., fixing vulnerabilities, improving processes, or revising policies).

5 Evaluate the plan

Evaluating the plan is the fifth step you should take if your information systems team is facing cybersecurity risks. Measure and analyze the results and impacts of the actions you have implemented to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your plan. To do this, collaborate with your team to conduct a quantitative evaluation, such as comparing metrics and indicators before and after the actions, or using benchmarks and standards to assess performance. Additionally, collect feedback and opinions from stakeholders through qualitative evaluation using surveys and interviews. Also, use a SWOT analysis to list the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your plan in a matrix or chart. Finally, summarize key findings, insights, and recommendations from your evaluation in a report or presentation for lessons learned.

6 Improve the plan

The sixth and final step you should take if your information systems team is facing cybersecurity risks is to improve the plan. This involves using the evaluation results and lessons learned to revise and enhance your plan, making it more effective and efficient. Your team should be involved in making adjustments and modifications to the objectives, outcomes, resources, responsibilities, metrics, indicators, timelines, or milestones of the actions. Additionally, introducing new tools, techniques, or methods can help improve the prevention, detection, or response of the actions. Regular audits, tests, or drills should be conducted to ensure the validity, reliability, or security of the actions. Lastly, following the PDCA cycle (plan-do-check-act) can help monitor and optimize the plan on an ongoing basis for continuous improvement.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?