Cybersecurity continues to be one of the leading concerns for organizations and despite pouring copious amounts of money into risk prevention programs cyber risks seem to never subside. Organizations are beginning to feel as if they can never get ahead of the curve with cybercrime accounting for $7 billion of losses to organizations in 2021 which is a 500% increase from 2017. Organizations likeMicrosoft spend roughly $2 billion a year on cybersecurity and still struggle to remain fully secure and smaller organizations are incapable of spending even a fraction of that. A cyberattack can be detrimental to any organization whether it be through stolen money and crucial data, regulatory fines, or a loss of consumer trust, and despite hefty budgets, organizations continue to fail at ensuring effective cybersecurity.
The world of cybersecurity is a complex environment that is constantly changing with developing technology. There is no one clear-cut way to minimize cyberthreats that all organizations can follow, there are, however, some general concerns and practices organizations can identify and implement in order to bolster cybersecurity needs:
Cybersecurity Awareness
More often than not companies do have employees who are experts in the realm of cybersecurity, however, these employees often reside within the IT department.Concerns arise when other departments lack the knowledge and understanding required to successfully implement and consistently practice cyber crime mitigation. Cybersecurity is not a concern for only the IT department but the organization as a whole and ensuring that proper training and understanding of cybersecurity risks are spread throughout all departments of an organization is key to ensuring that employees have the necessary tools and knowledge to identify and mitigate cyber risks.
The Weakness of Humans
As technology continues to develop organizations are able to invest thousands of dollars on high-end cybersecurity protection systems but still see a rise insecurity breaches. Many organizations may be scratching their heads as to why this is and the answer lies within human psychology. Cybercriminals are not investing in new ways to outsmart high-end security systems but rather devising new methods of outsmarting humans. People represent the greatest vulnerability within organizations and most cybercriminals will use this to their advantage by devising new methods to manipulate employees into providing sensitive information and data. Phishing is a term that most people have probably heard of with 83% of organizations experiencing phishing attacks throughout 2021according to CyberTalk. Human vulnerability is real, and as previously stated ensuring that employees across all departments are aware and are given the necessary tools for reporting will greatly enhance cybersecurity initiatives.It is advised to also ensure that cybersecurity is a part of the company’s culture from processes all the way through social behaviors. A greater emphasis must be put on cybersecurity if organizations hope to achieve any real success.
On Guard
Too often do organizations invest heavily into cybersecurity and once base-level security needs are met and a positive trend is shown, the issue is then put on the back burner. As previously mentioned, cyber threats are constantly adapting to changing technology. Organizations can never become complacent in their cybersecurity procedures and must always be aware and prepared to adapt to the changing environment.
Cybersecurity continues to be a growing threat to organizations of all kinds and ensuring that the organization as a whole is properly equipped and trained to tackle coming challenges has now become a requirement for business success.