Cyberattacks can result in catastrophic consequences and massive damages in an organisation. Companies that provide network security can help reduce the impact of a cyberattack and ensure that strategies are in place for the business to resume normal operations even after one has occurred.
Cybersecurity Vulnerability
Increasing cyber threats could be driven by an increased reliance on digital services. According to Rapid 7’s National Exposure Index of 2018, Australia ranks as the world’s 11th most vulnerable and exposed country to a cyberattack. This vulnerability needs to be addressed as soon as possible, as breaches can be distastrous for businesses, the government, and various customers.
TMT Sector Risk of Cyberattack
Technology, media and entertainment, and telco (TMT) companies face an increased risk of cyberattack. This may be because of this sector’s data-driven nature. These companies are normally rich in data and exist over the cloud. The risk of cyberattack may also be heightened because TMT businesses are subject to various data privacy regulations across many geographic boundaries. They obtain information from many different customers and leave themselves vulnerable to threats from all over the world.
Cybersecurity Response Plan
A cybersecurity incident response management plan outlines the steps for a business to take after a cybersecurity incident occurs. This plan is intended to quicken the process by which employees detect incidents, deal with and lessen the incident’s impact, and return to regular business operations. This likely involves the following steps: preparation for and prevention of cyberattacks, threat detection, assessment of threat and impact level, attack response, and review and improvement of the incident plan as needed.
Updating and preparing prevention strategies can discourage some cyberattacks. However, determined cyber attackers using sophisticated and advanced methods and tools are difficult to detect and prevent. This is why companies should continue to invest in incident response strategies.
One incident response strategy that an organisation can consider is isolating the affected systems and disconnecting them from the company network to prevent the further spread of an attack. A well-handled response reduces the likelihood that a business is exposed to major disruptions or legal issues from loss of customer information.
TMT Cyberattack Budget
Most TMT organisations spend 90% of their cyber budgets on attack prevention. Only 10% of the budget is left for incident response. The imbalance of security spending increases the risk that an attack will result in massive damages to a company. This is because a determined cyber attacker will likely succeed. Without a significant budget allocated to post-attack response, a company is essentially left defenseless and bereft of a plan or process.
Investing in a well-defined and regularly tested cyber response action plan minimises the impact of a cyberattack when it occurs.
Cybersecurity Management
Security leaders need to consider what information is most valuable and needs the greatest amount of protection. That way, a business can divide their budget according to these priorities and lessen the likelihood that a cyberattack compromises this aspect of the organisation.
Security professionals also need to assess the controls surrounding the information they consider valuable and determine how effective and updated they are. In addition, regular and continuous monitoring of controls, as well as a proper response management system will help mitigate damage in case a cyberattack occurs.
