Cyber security consists of all the technologies and practices that keep computer systems and electronic data safe. Cyber security is critical, because the threats posed to digital systems and data have never been greater.
How grave is the cyber security threat to business?
According to industry data, breaches – security incidents in which unauthorized parties gain access to sensitive data or confidential information – exposed a staggering 22 billion records in 2021. By Q32022, data breaches were rising by 70 per cent around the globe.
Associated costs have increased, too, by over 20 per cent per year, according to the World Economic Forum.
As it stands, the average global cost of a data breach to businesses reached $4.35 million in 2022.
Accordingly, businesses are feeling the heat. Accenture found that 68 per cent of business leaders feel their cyber security risks are increasing.
However, according to Sophos, 54 per cent of companies say their IT departments aren’t sophisticated enough to handle advanced cyberattacks.
And so, to instruct those companies on how to mitigate cyber security risk, this blog will cover (1) what cyber security risk is, (2)the most common cyber security issues, (3) how to reduce cyber security risks, and (4) the role of integrated security software in ensuring cyber resilience.
What are cyber security risks?
If cyber resilience is so critical to organizational resilience, as it is, the question follows, what are cyber security risks? The consensus definition of cyber security risk is the probability of exposure or loss resulting from a cyberattack or data breach on your organization. In other words, an effect of uncertainty on or within information and technology.
More specifically, according to international standard ISO 73, cyber security risks relate to the loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability of information, data, or information (or control) systems and reflect the potential adverse impacts to organizational operations and assets, individuals, other organizations, and the nation at large.
Types of cyber security issues
Of course, companies must address specific types of cyber security issues within a larger framework of mitigating cyber security risk.
So, what are the various types of cyber security issues or cyber threats? The most common include:
Malware
According to technology titan Cisco, malware, short for malicious software, refers to any intrusive software developed by cybercriminals to steal data and damage or destroy computers and computer systems.
The most prominent examples of malware are viruses, worms, Trojan viruses, spyware, adware, and ransomware.
Ransomware attacks, in particular, have become exceedingly common. These are an ever-evolving form of malware designed to encrypt files on a device, rendering any files and the systems that rely on them unusable.
Malicious actors then turn around and demand ransoms, typically of large enterprises, in exchange for decryption.
Phishing attacks
Phishing attacks, according to the National Cyber Security Centre in the U.K., are when attackers attempt to trick users into doing “the wrong thing.”
Phishing attacks can be perpetrated by different means, including via text message, social media, or by phone. However, “phishing” is mainly used to describe attacks by email.
These phishing emails can reach millions of users directly. They tend to be effective, hiding, as they do, among the huge numbers of benign emails that users receive. Within these emails, attackers can install malware (such as ransomware), sabotage systems, or steal intellectual property and money.
Data breaches
As noted, data breaches are security incidents in which unauthorized parties gain access to sensitive data or confidential information. They are perhaps the most common type of cyber security issue.
How prolific are data breaches? Well, the 2022 Data Breach Report from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) recorded 1,802 breaches in 2022, slightly down from 1,862 the year before.
The bad news, though, and what will keep data breaches on IT’s mind is the fact that the number of victims in the 2022 breaches shot up. Four hundred and twenty-two million people were affected by full breaches and PII exposures, up from 294 million in 2021.
5 ways to reduce cyber security risk
How then do organizations develop strategies to mitigate the cyber security posed by those threats? According to industry consensus, these are the five ways to reduce cyber security risk:
1. Train employees for awareness
According to research from Stanford, nearly 90 per cent of all data breaches are caused by employee mistake. To address the role of human error in exacerbating cyber risk, organizations must train employees to improve their security awareness.
The most effective security awareness training focuses directly on reducing user risk. This is best done with regular, persistent sessions of short duration that more readily fit into an employees’ schedule.
What’s more, positive reinforcement and humor have been proven to work better than fear-based messaging. They also serve to improve retention of critical security topics.
2. Maintain software with regular updates
Another strategy to reduce cyber security risk is to regularly update software. It might seem like a no-brainer, but too few companies demand that employees regularly update software that’s running on the corporate network.
But employees sharing a network with others need to be extra diligent. An infected device can quickly spread malware to others in the network. Running regular updates, particularly security patches, helps to mitigate the threat, as well as add updated functionality and fix kinks and bugs in existing software.
3. Strengthen access controls and authentication
Implementing access control best practices is another important strategy for reducing cyber risk by safeguarding assets and protecting sensitive information.
What do these best practices involve? Well, they involve the implementation of site-specific measures to regulate and manage access to physical and digital resources within an organization.
Why physical resources, though? Remember, digital assets exist in physical space. Organizations can’t reduce their cyber security risk by ignoring physical threats, e.g., theft, sabotage, industrial espionage, etc.
And so, one recommended control to effect serious physical security monitoring is to continuously monitor all premises for unauthorized physical access.
4. Encrypt sensitive data
Of course, it is sensitive digital data that’s become currency among bad actors. Any strategy to reduce cyber security risk must involve a way to encrypt sensitive data. But what is encryption?
Encryption is the process of concealing data by using a code. After encryption, reading or using the now-concealed data requires having the code used during encryption.
That’s decryption. Both encryption and decryption are used to allow access to data only to those who have the code. In other words, those who don’t have the code won’t be able to use the data, as they will be unusable.
5. Plan for incident response
The final strategy for reducing cyber security risk is to plan for how you would respond in a cyber incident. This part of the cyber incident response planning process, which yields an incident response plan (IRP).
So, what’s an IRP, anyway? Approved by senior management, an IRP is a set of instructions to help IT staff detect, respond to, and recover from security incidents. These types of plans address specific cybersecurity issues, e.g., cybercrime, data loss, and service outages that threaten daily work.
To implement IRPs expeditiously, consider finding a flexible, configurable, software solution that helps plan and manage your information, operations, and communications.
Such a solution would capture and consume information from multiple sources, including reports, logs, communications, forms, assets, and maps, providing a real-time common operating picture of the task or operation at hand.
Reduce and manage cyber security risk with Noggin
And if you’re looking for the right platform to help reduce cyber security risk, we recommend going with Noggin.
The integrated security software solution your security team needs, Noggin's Security Management software helps you proactively manage all aspects of security operations from anywhere, on any device.
Did we mention best practice? Applying industry standard ISO 27001, Noggin gives you the ability to collect information from across your organization and the public, so you can deploy resources effectively and efficiently.
But don’t just take our word for it, request a demonstration to check out Noggin for yourself.
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