How to Make Cyber Security Decisions for Your Business

It’s getting harder for business leaders to ignore the importance of cyber security to safeguarding their businesses’ success. Over the past decade, cyber security has been a fixture in the news thanks to breaches at numerous high profile companies, from Uber, Yahoo, and Target to Equifax and Marriott International. And recent studies have confirmed that small and mid-sized businesses are not immune to these kinds of attacks; in some ways, they are bigger targets, and they certainly have more to lose in the event of a cyber attack than enterprise companies. And the market has responded to a need here. Small and mid-sized business owners are now faced with a wide array of cyber security tools, solutions, and services to choose from.  

Identifying the right set of cyber security solutions and safeguards for your business, though, can be an overwhelming task—especially since, odds are, you got into business to do something other than worry about cyber security. The key to finding the right mix of tools, technology, and services to adequately protect your business from cyber threats is to first determine the level and types of risk your business faces with respect to cyber security, and then to put together the right processes, policies, and tools to adequately mitigate those risks. 

To help illustrate this approach, let’s use home security as metaphor. The principles are similar, and since home security is relatable to most everyone, it’s a good way to conceptualize an approach to cyber-security decision making that will help protect your business.

Common-Sense Home Security as a Metaphor for Business Cyber Security: The Basics Matter

Basic home security requires a few best practices. We start by making sure we’re not making it easy for criminals. We don’t leave our possessions and valuables open for theft by leaving them in the yard or leaving doors open at unnecessary times. Then we make sure the house has quality locks on those doors that can’t be manipulated with simple burglary techniques. If a house is older you may update the locks to ensure they’ll withstand these methods. Windows with updated locking mechanisms may be updated to both insulate the house from the elements and keep your family and things safe.

These practices are so basic that on the surface they might not seem worth mentioning, but they’re extremely effective at preventing opportunistic criminals from making easy prey of our possessions.

And since cyber criminals are no less opportunistic than burglars, the same principles apply to cyber security. A large number of attacks happen because companies allow themselves to become easy targets. This means that basic network hygiene and IT best practices—from sounds password strategies to ongoing patch management—go a long way toward protecting your company’s assets.

Matching Advanced Safeguards with Your Level of Risk

Of course, in many cases, the baseline, both for home security and business cyber security, is not enough.

Many homeowners don’t feel, for instance, that simple door locks are sufficient protection, given the personal loss they would suffer if a more enterprising burglar were to target their home. They know that the value of their possessions—and, more importantly, the value of their families’ safety—warrants extra protection.

Considering the level of risk they feel, as well as environmental factors such as the location and size of their homes, they may implement any number of additional safeguards. Motion detector lights might be installed to dissuade burglars before they even have a chance to approach the house. Fences in the back or front yard may serve a similar purpose to neutralize a risk before it becomes an incident. Security systems and video surveillance systems of various complexities may be installed. And some homeowners may choose to live in gated communities, which ensure, via gate attendants and security personal, that homes and neighborhoods are under surveillance by professionals. 

But again – the types and the level of risk these homeowners feel that they have will determine which safeguards they choose to implement. And the same principle should apply to business cyber security.

There are any number of advanced safeguards—from multi-factor authentication and single-sign-on to advanced threat detection tools—that businesses can adopt. The key, though, is to analyze your business’s specific kinds and level of risks, and then pair the right safeguards as part of a well thought out and holistic cyber security strategy. Businesses subject to regulations, such as HIPAA, that require particular approaches to cyber security will require a different mix of processes, policies, and tools than those that do not have to meet specific guidelines. And businesses that deal with sensitive personal or financial information may require safeguards that another business may not. The point is to take a careful, strategic approach to identifying risk and appropriately mitigating it with the right tools.

Finding the Right Cyber Security Approach for Your Business

Affinity is here to help. For over 17 years, businesses throughout Greater Nashville have benefited from our approached to managed IT services, which involves careful and consistent analysis of cyber security risks and data-driven cyber security strategy that empowers business leaders to make the best decisions for securing their businesses.  

Are you ready to take a structured, strategic approach to your business’s cyber security? Book a conversation with one of our technology consultants today.