Enterprises today across all industry sectors, and sub-sectors rely on cloud servers, IoT, and digital databases for the accumulation, sorting, and processing of big data. Being in digital space makes sensitive metadata such as bank details, insurance details, personal data, etc. vulnerable to cyber attacks which can cause serious unrest both across enterprises and among the masses.
Cybersecurity, according to 61% of survey respondents, is the largest contributor and the top priority to global information security and risk management technology spending.
According to Gartner’s 2021 CIO Agency Survey, total enterprise investment for global information security and risk management technology is expected to increase 12.4%, up a whopping $150.4 billion in 2021 alone.
Cybersecurity is considered to be the largest contributor to this spending and a top priority for 61% of the respondents. Therefore, enterprises require a new integrated, collaborative security approach that automatically shares intelligence for real-time threat response.
New enterprise security solutions that protect gateways, servers, websites, and clients with firewall security, threats, intrusion detection, vulnerability management, virus protection, and virtual private networking. Enterprise cybersecurity protects a company’s data, resources, and users/customers from cyberattacks. It includes protecting on-premise data, cloud-based data, and the large number of endpoints through which cyberattacks can come.
Organizations need to complete a cybersecurity risk assessment, a process that identifies which assets are most vulnerable to the cyber risks the organization faces. Mitigating the risks identified during the assessment will prevent and reduce costly security incidents and data breaches and avoid regulatory and compliance issues. The risk assessment process also obliges everyone within an organization to consider how cybersecurity risks can impact the organization’s objectives, which helps to create a more risk-aware culture.
Enterprise cyber security is multi-dimensional in the sense of its application and use case. Different types of organizations and enterprises whether governments or commercial businesses, all require new cybersecurity assessment tools and methods.
A successful ransomware infection or data breach can carry costs in the millions of dollars; the average cost of a data breach is $4.62 million and cause significant harm to an organization’s customers, reputation, and productivity. Attempting to monitor and manage cybersecurity risks with an array of standalone security solutions in an ineffective and unsalable solution. Effective cybersecurity risk management requires a consolidated security architecture that provides comprehensive security visibility, zero-trust security, and threat prevention.
Boards of directors, or owners of businesses that are not publicly traded, and senior management are more expected to take an active role in the oversight and management of cybersecurity and cyber risk. Both the reality of cyber threats and regulatory changes should make it clear to boards, owners, along with other C-suite stakeholders that there is a need for better management of cybersecurity.
Enterprise risk management (ERM) is a tool that management and the board can use to help manage risk across the enterprise, including cyber risk. First and foremost, cyber risk should be evaluated in terms of the potential risk to patient care and safety. Security and privacy of patient data is very important but not above patient safety. Secondly, cyber risk is an enterprise risk issue because it is present and impacts every operation and function of the organization.
It is important to understand how a digital risk may translate into a physical risk to patients. For instance, a ransomware attack may render life-saving medical devices inoperable, deny access to critical health data, or shut down HVAC systems and elevators which interrupts patient care operations. Cyber risk is a factor to be considered in strategic business decisions and when assessing “over the horizon” strategic risk.
A new perspective is necessary to increase the maturity level concerning enterprise cyber risk management is crucial. If enterprises are simply reactionary in their approaches, they will always be playing catch-up when cybersecurity incidents and data breaches occur. Security leaders are looking for solutions that aren’t cobbled together from many different modules that leave critical gaps open for threats to take advantage of. Enterprise cyber threats have introduced an inherent and distributed risk environment that most organizations and boards must be well-prepared for.
For a more defined and robust cyber risk assessment across enterprises, it is crucial to identify asses and corresponding threats equally. Pertaining to them, creating a network architecture diagram from the asset inventory list is a great way to visualize the interconnectivity and communication paths between assets and processes as well as entry points into the network, making the next task of identifying threats easier. Deploying new enterprise cyber security assessment tools template for future assessments, whilst reducing the chances of a cyber-attack adversely affecting business objectives.
