Many companies manage their cybersecurity risk with a ‘hide, watch, and react if necessary’ approach. Unfortunately, several fall victim to cyberattacks due to this mentality. They falsely believe if they haven’t yet had a cyber incident, they can handle any future events that might come their way. It is similar to the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach; however, there is no proof something isn’t broken, it just may not have caused a problem yet. To help companies identify areas needing attention, we recommend a ‘light-touch’ cybersecurity check-up of your IT environment.
Why do I need a cybersecurity check-up?
If your company succumbs to a cyber incident, it faces problems such as financial loss, operational disruption, and/or total inability to continue operations. Unprepared organizations are rarely left with good options and are forced to choose among the least-worst solutions. It is truly disheartening when it is revealed that a cybersecurity check-up and modest improvements could have drastically changed the outcomes for these companies.
Isn’t my IT department handling this?
Like many others, IT professionals are often required to wear multiple hats. As a result, it becomes pretty easy for IT to be caught up in day-to-day grind activities such as helping end-users, procuring software or hardware, maintaining systems and equipment, investigating problems, fixing the CEO’s home Wi-Fi, and so on. These departments often overly focus on operational concerns at the expense of truly understanding and managing their risks (even companies that may have more mature IT departments).
Additionally, companies that may have engaged managed service providers (MSPs) to handle their IT functions commonly do not perform adequate due diligence to ensure that these companies have implemented quality controls and processes to protect their organization. They believe they have transferred their IT risk to this third party, leading them to think, ‘What could possibly go wrong?’
What are common cybersecurity mistakes?
We have observed several commonalities when we work with clients who are in these unfortunate circumstances. For instance, management was sometimes complacent or perhaps even negligent when it came to understanding their cybersecurity exposures. They were under the mistaken assumption that they were ‘too small’ to be targeted, or that the data they had was not of any value to a cyber-criminal (in the case of ransomware, the attacker is exploiting the fact that your data is valuable to you!). Other times, they had misplaced confidence in their ‘IT Guy’ who had been with them for years, who assured them that they were ‘safe‘ without ever having sought out a second opinion.
How can I avoid a costly cyber incident?
We recommend a cybersecurity check-up which allows management to have a useful glimpse into how they are handling common risks to the company’s IT environment. This solution helps management identify areas in need of improvement, as well as areas where it might make sense to take a deeper dive to understand what can go wrong.
The Calvetti Ferguson cybersecurity check-up is a light-touch look into our client’s IT environment and is normally completed in a few days. Our clients receive valuable insight into areas where they might be carrying significant risks, a preliminary evaluation as to the quality of controls in place, and detailed recommendations to help their organization improve.
As part of the check-up, we can also design a customized phishing simulation. This gives management valuable insight into the company’s susceptibility to phishing attacks, which can lead to ransomware infections, stolen credentials, email compromise, and other incidents. Read more about our recommendations for a ransomware response plan and how to prevent phishing attacks by strengthening the human layer of protection.
Whether it is a ransomware, malware, or other event that impacts your organization, it is not a question of if but when it will occur. Just because something hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t mean it won’t. Companies are oftentimes unable to recover from these events, so don’t be caught unprepared.
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