Organizations of all sizes should strive for the highest level of security maturity, but the approach must be tailored to their unique set of security needs.
With companies handling more data than ever, cybercriminals are redoubling their efforts to attack them. An alarming 83% of organizations will experience more than one data breach by 2022.
Threats are evolving and scams are becoming more sophisticated, using mediums such as virtual meeting platforms to convince employees to transfer money or data. Now is the time to take cybersecurity measures to the next level, but a company’s size should influence how it is addressed.
Size matters
The largest organizations have unique and specific security and compliance needs. As such, their cybersecurity strategy must be tailored to their unique risks. Large companies have the most to lose, with successful hacks resulting in huge profits for cybercriminals – often making headlines if a well-known brand is involved.
In contrast, small businesses are unlikely to have the time, resources, or specialist knowledge of cybersecurity. Cybercrime is expected to cost the world $10.5 trillion by 2025, with small businesses absorbing much of the impact. While small businesses may feel that cybercriminals won’t target them because of their size, the exact opposite is true.
The prevalence of software-as-a-service (SaaS) in the criminal underground makes targeting thousands of small businesses as easy as a mouse click. No one is “too small” for today’s cybercriminals.
Chief Product Officer of VikingCloud.
Assessing security maturity
Security maturity is an organization’s security posture relative to its risk environment and tolerances. An organization’s maturity level is determined by how efficiently it implements security controls, reporting and processes.
There are five levels of security maturity:
- Level one: Information security processes are unstructured, policies are not documented, and controls are not automated or reported to the business. They may be limited to basic controls such as scanning.
- Level two: Information security processes are established and policies are informally defined, but only partially implemented.
- Level Three: At this level there is a greater focus on policy documentation, implementation and automation of controls, as well as higher levels of reporting.
- Level Four: Achieved once the organization has mastered its information security processes with comprehensive policies, widespread implementation, a high degree of automation and business reporting.
- Level Five: At the highest level of security maturity, the policy is comprehensive and formalized. Full implementation and automation of controls has been achieved and business reporting takes place across all systems. Information security processes are continuously monitored and optimized.
In general, the lower the yield, the lower the term. One reason is that larger companies generally have more established business processes and organizational structures than their smaller counterparts. But a common characteristic of companies with mature cybersecurity programs is ensuring that the entire organization is aware of cybersecurity practices.
Creating a security-first culture and implementing best practices to ensure security controls are effective and compliant with data privacy regulations are the first steps to increasing your maturity level. Companies large and small can develop a robust security-first culture with the right guidance.
Part of this is that cyber security becomes a governance matter; Involving directors in security discussions will encourage a proactive attitude that trickles down and improves your entire organization’s security approach. For smaller businesses, owners need to recognize the importance of maturing their security policies – and ensuring that mindset trickles down to the rest of the business.
Automation is also a crucial part of achieving a high level of security maturity. Implementing automated solutions means higher reliability, greater efficiency and ensures better reporting for faster response time. But the process of raising the maturity level starts with adopting a cybersecurity framework that helps identify risks, protect assets, and detect, respond to, and recover from a cybersecurity attack.
Understanding security frameworks
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Cybersecurity Capability Maturity Model (C2M2) is one of the leading security controls frameworks that helps organizations measure information security processes and identify how they can be improved.
The Center for Internet Security (CIS) Cybersecurity Maturity Model (CMM) is another comprehensive policy, controls, automation and reporting model that gives organizations the confidence that they are effectively managing cybersecurity and protecting themselves against a full spectrum of threats. Originally developed by the U.S. Department of Defense, this framework provides a guide to assessing an organization’s security maturity based on its effectiveness in meeting a number of controls.
But all frameworks are typically based on NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) standards, which help federal agencies comply with the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and other regulations.
The NIST Cybersecurity Framework is one of the most widely adopted NIST standards; it is a voluntary framework for companies of all sizes and across all industries, created through collaboration between the U.S. government and organizations to advance the protection of critical infrastructure.
Finding the right partner
As the criminal landscape changes, organizations of all sizes are looking for help. It’s important that all businesses are clear about the skills they need to choose and work with the right security vendor. The best partners will support and guide the organization at every stage of the security and compliance journey. While much of the partnership will be driven by skilled people, it is also critical that the partner has a platform that connects security and compliance.
It is impossible to ignore the global increase in security threats. Nowadays it is not a question of whether an organization will be attacked, but when and how often. Combined with increasingly complex compliance mandates, organizations of all sizes must prioritize assessing and increasing their security levels – before it’s too late.
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