Is your organisation ready for cyber battle?

Diamond IT Blog - Are you ready for cyber battle Today, more than ever, organisations need to secure their network to protect operations, ensure the integrity of their data, and most importantly, keep their customers’ private information safe. With the rate that cyberthreats are evolving, coupled with the associated legal risks, and potential impact to your brand, cybersecurity can feel like an ongoing battle for CIOs and business leaders alike.

Diamond IT's most recent eBook acts as a guide to protecting yourself and your customers from a potential cyberthreat, including how to respond to an attack. (You can download your complimentary copy here.) It may sound daunting, but there are some simple 'battle tactics' that organisations can deploy in order to take the high ground on cyberattacks.

So, is your organisation 'ready for battle'?

Prepare your troops

Cybersecurity policies and procedures are one of the most critical tools to protect organisations. They provide staff with an understanding of how they should handle sensitive and personal information, and they demonstrate a level of diligence, not only internally, but also externally to customers.

Telstra’s most recent report reveals that in 2019 65% of Australian businesses have reported data breaches, a 5% increase from 2018. Today, it's not a question of 'if?' but 'when?'.

These statistics are startling, so it's important for organisations to have a robust cybersecurity 'war' plan. Understand what you're going to do when you get breached, how you are going to communicate with staff and customers, and how you're going to get back up and running as quickly as possible. Rolling out regularly updated policies and procedures to your team ensures that your team understand their responsibilities, and can stand united at the battle front.

Defend what's yours

Cybersecurity is a constant “cat and mouse game”, with defenders continually racing to adapt to existing threats while trying to prevent future threats. The most stable flaw for attackers to exploit is the people, as we fail to improve our processes to assist the hardware, software, and policies that protect us.

A common belief exposed from cybersecurity investigations is that employees believe that it’s up to their Information Technology (IT) department to protect them and their organisation from technology-based harm.

The truth is far more complex, of course.

In Cisco’s annual report on 2018, research indicated that only 26% of all cybersecurity threats can be protected by equipment and software alone. The remaining 74% required user training, policy and procedure or combinations of these elements.

Leading the way to battle

Recently, Diamond IT had the privilege of holding our 2nd Annual Newcastle Cybersecurity Industry Breakfast. Partnering with Fortinet and the NSW Cyber Security Network, the event provided business leaders an opportunity to hear from renowned experts in Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence, including Prof. Alana Maurushat from the Western Sydney University, and Mark Kovacik, Newcastle Account Manager from Fortinet. One key take away from the event was that it's almost impossible to keep people out of the network, and never come under attack. Organisations need to be well prepared and protected to mitigate risk when something does occur.

“The threat of a cybersecurity event happening in your business is very real. We see this on a regular basis through our technology. We actually have the ability to see the logs and see how many threats we protect and how many threats get through also.” - Mark Kovacik, Newcastle Account Manager, Fortinet.

Organisations across all industries need to be leading the way into cyber battle, ensuring their 'troops' are prepared and understand the plan, are ready to protect critical data, and respond to attacks appropriately. We have seen too many cases in the media over recent years of the consequences of a poorly prepared and executed cyberattack strategy.

Cybersecurity training for all levels of employees is every bit as important as the other means of protection, including software, hardware and security practices in keeping your data (and jobs!) safe.

We can help you ensure your technology, policy and staff education programs align with best practice. Our Business Technology Managers (BTMs) are specialists in improving your internal cybersecurity. If you need advice, give us a call on 1300 307 907 or contact us via the form below.