Last week I visited the ARC Forum in Orlando, and cybersecurity was one of the most prominent topics throughout the whole event. Here are some key lessons I learned:
There are different categories of cyberattacks. On one end are high-frequency attacks perpetuated by attackers with low-level skills. Those typically have a low impact on your company and its operations.
On the other end are less frequent but high-impact attacks that affect critical operations or that target high-value data. Such attacks require a high skill set on the attacker’s side.
How do you protect yourself and your company from both types of attacks?
The first category includes such things as spam, common viruses, or Trojans, most of which you can to fight with technology like spam filters or anti-virus software. However, the boundaries are blurring. The more the attacks move toward the high-impact category, the more you need resources with special skill sets that at least match those of the cyberattackers.
In other words, technology, skilled resources, and executive-level commitment and support must go hand-in-hand to build a resilient cybersecurity and threat protection system.
Sid Snitkin, from ARC, presented a five-stage maturity model comprising the following levels:
- Secure
- Defend
- Contain
- Manage
- Anticipate
The higher you climb on this “maturity ladder,” the more skilled resources come into play, and the more you have to break up silos within and beyond your company boundaries. Dan Rosinski, from Dow Chemical, stated that “it takes more than a village” to establish a strong cybersecurity. Fostering collaboration between IT, engineering, operations, legal, safety, purchasing, and business is a critical success factor.
Also, cybersecurity is not a one-off exercise. As hacker’s skill sets grow exponentially, you need to dynamically revisit your strategy and tools. Increasingly, new hardware and software are developed with embedded security and self-protection, especially tools that are used at the perimeter of a company’s environment. Hence, cybersecurity should be considered as a journey that just has started.
Share your experiences and thoughts on cybersecurity with us!
For more insight on cybersecurity technology, see Machine Learning: The New High-Tech Focus For Cybersecurity.