Back to Basics: The Importance of Getting Ready

This month marks CISA’s cyber security awareness month and the one-year anniversary of The Readiness Report. We’re excited to celebrate with you. ???

This month’s edition will include:??

• What tennis has to do with cybersecurity and compliance??
• Basics to include in your security program?
• Tips on staying ready to face today’s threats confidently ?

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What Coco Gauff Can Teach Us About Cybersecurity ?

It’s natural to want to be the best at what we do, both in our personal and professional lives. It’s easy to look at the great successes in our industries and only focus on the big-picture aspects of what they are doing well, but there’s a lot more that went into their success than we might initially think.??

Let’s look at Coco Gauff as an example. She is a 19-year-old tennis player who recently won the US women’s open (aka the youngest US open champion since Serena Williams won in 1999!!).??

Coco Gauff is starting to become a household name in the US, especially for those who enjoy tennis. Gauff is sure to be a role model for young tennis players all over the world, already achieving so much in her career. It’s easy to watch Gauff play and focus on her serve or the way she rallies with difficult opponents and want to be able to do exactly what she does. But she didn’t start out being the great tennis champion that she is today. First, she had to master the basics of the game before she could become the great player she’s become. She had to practice where to place her feet when hitting forehand versus backhand; she had to get used to the feel of the racket in her hand. These aren’t the glamorous aspects of Coco’s game, but they are just as important as anything else.??

This concept applies to most areas of life, including your organization’s cybersecurity and compliance. You can’t expect to be the best company in your industry without having a strong foundation, including a strong security posture. And what’s one of the best ways to strengthen your organization’s security posture? Going back to the basics.??

Audit Readiness: How Going Back to the Basics Can Help You Up Your Game?? ?

Since it’s CISA’s cybersecurity awareness month, we thought this would be the perfect time to remember essential security basics and the importance of their role in preparing to face today’s threats confidently. ?

In preparation for cybersecurity awareness month, CISA posted four foundational steps to make sure you’re incorporating into your security practices. And although these steps may seem basic, they are essential to the success of an organization.??

?The four steps are:??

?Use strong passwords and a password manager??

?Turn on multifactor authentication (MFA)?

?Recognize & report phishing??

?Update software?

Not only do most cybersecurity frameworks require compliance with these steps in some way but, by following these steps, you’ll be preemptively preparing for inevitable threats that could cause serious damage to your organization.?

If your organization has fallen away from focusing on the cybersecurity basics that will help keep your organization secure, it’s not too late to reevaluate and refocus. Take the time to make sure the foundational aspects of your security program are solid so you can set your organization up for success. Partner with KirkpatrickPrice this Cybersecurity Awareness Month to get ready for your next audit and become champions within your industry.??

The More You Know

Do you think Coco expected to be one of the top tennis players in the world after one practice? Probably not. Most likely, she decided to commit to getting better each time she stepped on the court. She’s certainly experienced failures along with her success, but instead of letting those failures stop her, she decided to grow through them and become even better at what she does.?

And that’s exactly the mindset needed when you’re getting ready for your next audit. Compliance isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. In this video, Justin Su’a, head of mental performance for the Tampa Bay Rays, discusses the importance of having a growth mindset when it comes to your organization’s security and compliance.??

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KirkpatrickPrice is the leader in cyber security and compliance audit reports. Our experienced auditors know audits are hard, so they take complicated audits such as SOC 1, SOC 2, PCI DSS, HIPAA, HITRUST, GDPR, and ISO 27001 and make them worth it. The firm has issued over 10,000 reports to over 1,200 clients worldwide, giving its clients trusted results and the assurance they deserve. Using its?Online Audit Manager, the world’s first compliance platform, KirkpatrickPrice partners its clients with an expert to guide them through the entire audit process, from audit readiness to final report.

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