As an IT manager, does cyber security cause you technological headaches and workplace frustration?
According to reports, there’s yet another predicted spike in malicious cyber activity on the horizon. To get prepared, businesses are investing considerable cash in hiring security professionals, maintaining business privacy and avoiding cyber attacks. On average, a cyber security breach will cost your business £600k-£1.15m.
But what are your most common online security challenges? Often, it’s not just deploying the right security technology. Getting investment from your Board and educating your staff on the importance of vigilance can be just as challenging, yet the solutions to these are far less costly:
Getting your Board onboard
You may find that your online security processes are left to you and your IT department to manage and disseminate.
Indeed, our latest research on cyber security shows that only 30% of senior business leaders have an in-depth understanding of online security threats. A further 7% have very little or no understanding whatsoever.
This is a reason for serious concern — your senior leaders are just as, if not more than, likely to be targeted by cyber criminals as they have the easiest access to the most sensitive business information.
Your Board needn’t be online security experts, but they do need to keep on top of your security policies, your latest online threats, how you mitigated them, and what they should be on the lookout for.
This could take the form of monthly meetings, a quarterly board presentation or even just a regular newsletter to keep them involved in your cyber security processes.
Educating staff on your security policies
Phishing attempts are manifesting as impersonations of board level executives, using phishing PDFs and phishing sites, and with 81% of large businesses reporting security breaches it is a cause of concern.
Every staff member in your business has a role to play to ensure your company remains secure.
Worryingly, a significant number of these threats begin with a single staff member opening a malicious attachment or clicking on a phishing email. Every staff member in your business, therefore, has a role to play to ensure your company remains secure.
Your role, as an IT manager, is to deliver educational training to help workers understand your company's security posture. Explain where your company is strong and weak, and where you’re actively plugging the security gaps. This training should highlight your workers’ responsibilities in your company’s security policy.
This training should include:
- What to look for in a malicious email
- What to do (and not do) with an email they’re not expecting
- How to recognise suspicious content
The responsibility of security technology
Ransomware is still one of the leading cyber compromises today. It has been out in the wild for many years, but reared its head in the last couple of years. The scary thing? It’s totally indiscriminate.
Today, no business — whether you have hugely complex operations, process highly sensitive data, or simply run as a normal SME — can afford to be without a cyber security strategy. As well as educating your staff and engaging your Board, deploying robust security technology is an essential step.
At Intercity, our wealth of industry experience means we understand the biggest online security challenges for businesses. In turn, we developed Security as a Service (SECaaS) — an end-to-end service that provides both application control and an intrusion protection system, as well as traditional firewall features. The concept of SECaaS was to take an organisation’s perimeter security, firewall antivirus, and remote access systems, and to put them into the cloud.
The best bit? It removes your burden or responsibility as IT manager, takes your security off premise and delivers it back as a service. That means you avoid the frustration, unexpected costs and inflexibility of standard online security.
Online security should, therefore, be a collaborative effort across all business units and departments. Once everyone is familiar with the process of protecting your business, your first line of defense becomes far more secure. Find out how SECaaS could protect your business in the cloud, whilst you ensure your company has a thorough and transparent security policy.
