Cybersecurity readiness is more important than ever in today’s digital landscape. Most modern businesses rely on digital services, software, and infrastructure to complete their daily operations. But as digital technology evolves, so do cyberattacks. Malicious actors harness new technologies to exploit vulnerabilities in organizations’ widening attack surfaces.🎯
An organization’s attack surface increases as it uses more technology like cloud products, the Internet of Things (IoT), personal devices, and third-party software. Organizations now operate in a highly connected business ecosystem.
Maintaining the cybersecurity readiness of an organization and all its working parts requires substantial effort. In addition to assessing internal security, organizations must also assess the security of third-party vendors they use.
There are three key areas to evaluate as you develop a strategy for strengthening your organization’s cybersecurity readiness:
- Continuous assessment ♾️
- Vendor security 🔐
- Incident response 🏃
Learn about what steps you need to take to address each of these key areas, and how you can use professional tech networks like the ViB community to streamline the process of researching trustworthy cybersecurity vendors.
Continuously assess your cybersecurity readiness
Security threats are continuously evolving and getting smarter, so your organization’s defense must also continuously evolve and be maintained to keep up and stay strong, comprehensive, and effective.
Consider how quickly the digital landscape has evolved within the last five years. Artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are all technologies that have only taken hold recently but have completely changed how the Internet works. Cyberattack strategies evolve just as quickly, and harness these new technologies to make their attacks smarter, more complicated, and more destructive.
To defend against rapidly evolving cyberattack methods, you must continuously assess your organization’s cybersecurity readiness and regularly update your strategy.
Creating a plan for continuously monitoring and assessing cybersecurity readiness will depend on the structure and needs of your organization. Your plan might include audits, simulations, or other continuous security monitoring (CMS) tools.
Continuous monitoring processes can be built internally, but many companies opt to use third-party vendors to strengthen their cybersecurity readiness, like MDR (managed detection and response), XDR (extended detection and response), or SIEM (security information and event management) products.
Third-party software products can do the heavy lifting in handling an organization’s continuous monitoring and assessment needs, but the products still need to be configured and managed by a competent CISO or IT professional who has thoroughly vetted the cybersecurity stance of all third-party vendors used.
Evaluate the cybersecurity readiness of your vendors
Most modern organizations operate in highly connected business ecosystems, relying on third-party vendors for outsourcing work, process, and infrastructure needs. So assessing the security of connected vendors is just as crucial as assessing internal security.
Many of these third-party vendors are cloud service providers (CSPs). Working with cloud technology involves a unique dynamic of shared responsibility between the vendor and customer to manage the security related to the product.
Understand shared responsibility when working with cloud vendors
The Shared Responsibility Model is a security and compliance framework that outlines the security responsibilities of CSPs and the security responsibilities of their customers. Shared responsibility basically means the cloud provider must monitor and respond to security threats related to its cloud infrastructure; meanwhile, customers or end users are responsible for protecting the data they store in the cloud.
Shared responsibility applies to all three main cloud service models: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
Evaluating a vendor’s compliance with security responsibilities in the shared responsibility model is an important part of choosing the right cybersecurity vendor for your organization.
Create a specific framework for evaluating third-party vendors
Vendor cybersecurity readiness evaluation can involve a range of tools and tactics. Ideally, organizations should evaluate vendors using a standardized framework that outlines a set process for evaluating and onboarding all third-party vendors.
Organizations can opt to create their own internal framework or use software that streamlines the process. In either approach, the framework for vendor cybersecurity readiness evaluation should contain the following actions:
- Inventory of all third-party vendors
- Complete vendor risk assessment questionnaire or template
- Establish continuous monitoring of third-party risk assessment
An example of a vendor evaluation template by LeanIX
An example of a vendor risk assessment template by Smarts
For many organizations, the easiest way to evaluate the security of vendors is to use a software product or platform that provides vendor questionnaires and templates, benchmarks vendors against their industry, and uses data points to continuously monitor vendors’ cybersecurity readiness.
Create a detailed incident response plan
Damage to organizations caused by cyberattacks can include financial loss, data breaches, loss of reputation, and loss of business. To prevent these damages, it’s crucial to have a cybersecurity incident response plan in place, outlining clear actions to take in each stage of a cyberattack. If you implement an effective incident response plan, potentially major incidents end up being only minor ones or are avoided altogether.😮💨
An effective cybersecurity incident response plan lists actionable steps your organization should take to respond to and recover from a cyberattack. The plan isn’t meant to be perfectly adapted to each and every type of attack, but it should be a thoroughly educated guess about how you should defend your organization through the different stages of a cyberattack.
An effective cybersecurity incident response plan typically includes the following key components:
- An overview of your organization’s attack surface and cyber threat landscape
- An incident response framework. NIST defines an incident response framework as having four stages:
- Preparation and prevention
- Detection and analysis
- Containment, eradication, and recovery
- Post-incident activity
- Actions taken during each phase of incident response
- Clear roles and responsibilities for each step of the framework
- Data and assessment to understand how effective your incident response was
- Regular monitoring of your threat landscape and response strategy
Once you have a well-defined cybersecurity incident response plan, consider testing your plan regularly using drills and simulations to gauge how effective the plan would be in a real cyberattack.👾
Use the ViB Community to assess cybersecurity vendors
Staying on top of your organization’s cybersecurity readiness is no easy feat. Most organizations employ one or more cybersecurity software vendors to aid in the process. But there’s a vast array of options for cybersecurity products and vendors, and each one meets the security and business needs of an organization differently.
Evaluating cybersecurity vendors is a task in itself, and that’s where professional tech communities like the ViB Community can step in and streamline the process of assessing vendors, so you don’t find yourself wading through cold call emails and spam on the daily.
The ViB Community works like this:
- Tech professionals join and share their job profiles and interests
- The ViB Community puts together personalized tech discovery experiences
- Members can view all their tailored programs
- If there’s a fit, members can attend webinars, try demos, and meet vendors
So instead of spending time independently researching and contacting vendors, ViB Community members get alerted about new tech solutions or vendors that match their interests. Members can quickly and systematically evaluate a range of tech solutions tailored to their organization’s needs.
The director of information technology and security of one small- to mid-sized company used the ViB community to find the perfect telecom and technology lifestyle management solution for his company.
His task of overseeing the operation, maintenance, and security of the company’s technology is complicated due to working within a lean operation with limited resources. One of his roles is to purchase products and services that help make the company’s infotech more efficient and secure, but he doesn’t have time to filter through masses of emails and cold calls.
When he received an email from ViB about a vendor called zLinq, it looked like a good match, and he set up an intro meeting. It turned out that zLinq completely met all the company’s needs for managing internet and telephony circuits across their global offices.
If you struggle with wading through a sea of decisions when selecting infotech or cybersecurity vendors, consider joining a professional tech network like the ViB community to help speed up the process and keep expenses to a minimum.
Invest in the right tools and vendors to create a strong cybersecurity strategy
Strengthening your organization’s cybersecurity readiness is a dynamic process that requires understanding your needs and goals, and then creating a specific plan.
📝 When devising your organization’s cybersecurity readiness plan and selecting cybersecurity vendors, remember to consider the key areas:
- Continuous monitoring
- Vendor assessment
- Incident response
Due to the complex and evolving nature of cybersecurity, most businesses turn to software vendors to provide tools, guidance, and support. To speed up the process of evaluating and selecting vendors, consider joining a professional technology community like the ViB community to cut through the noise, connect with peers in your industry, and receive tailored suggestions for tech solutions.🔮
A company’s security posture highly depends on the products and vendors it uses, which means the process of researching and assessing different cybersecurity vendors is a vital step in developing a strong cybersecurity strategy for your organization.
When it comes to cybersecurity, a business’s financial assets, clients, and reputation are at stake, and a strong security stance can be the difference between a business failing or succeeding.
