Two Wings of Cybersecurity
There are two “Wings of Cybersecurity” - and you need two wings to fly. Effective Cybersecurity is both a technical and procedural enterprise.
More Than Just Technology
It’s common for companies to focus exclusively on the technical side of Cybersecurity: yearly penetration test, antivirus, EDR, firewalls, HIDS, and a SIEM. While this is important, concentrating just on the technical issues of cybersecurity will miss a huge element of risk that the company is facing. If the problems and threats in Cybersecurity were only technical, the industry would have solved the problem long ago.
Effective Cybersecurity is much more that just technology.
Once a company establishes a technical cybersecurity baseline, which is often accomplished through a yearly penetration test, the most important instrument to protect networks and systems is an Enterprise Risk Assessment.
Proactive Not Reactive
Companies that have a healthy cybersecurity culture have a proactive approach to cybersecurity, rather than a reactive one. Employees strive to perform each tasks and process securely.
A strong Cybersecurity culture enhance a company's reputation for reliability and trustworthiness. Customers, partners, and stakeholders are more likely to trust a company that takes cybersecurity seriously and has a strong culture of security deeply integrated into its business.
Preventing cyber attacks is much cheaper than recovering from them, and a strong culture of security can help minimize the risk and impact of cyber attacks. Technology can only go so far. In the end it’s the employees and the processes they perform that will maintain a proper strong security posture.
Effective Cybersecurity Instrument
An Enterprise Risk Assessment touches upon areas that a Penetration Test will never review.
Authentication and Access Control, Logging and Monitoring, Cloud Identity & Access Management, Cloud Development, Vendor Management, Incident Response, these are just a few areas that an Enterprise Risk Assessment will cover.
It doesn’t matter of a company spends a large amount of money on technical Cybersecurity solutions - if its employees don’t carry out their jobs securely, don’t authenticate securely, don’t code securely, don’t perform operational security properly - the technical solutions will be rendered ineffective.
A Cybermode Penetration Test and a Risk Assessment work together as “hand in glove” to give a complete understanding of a company’s cybersecurity posture. When performed together, they inform and strengthen the understanding of the interconnected relationship of the Technical and Procedural Cybersecurity footprint of a company.
It is best practice to perform each year a Comprehensive Penetration Test and an Enterprise Risk Assessment. When this is done these two “Cybersecurity Wings” will develop over time an effective “Culture of Security” within your company that will help you decisively face the risks to come.
