Managing cybersecurity risk is an essential task for any organization operating in today's digital landscape. Cybersecurity encompasses a wide range of disciplines that that seeks to identify, mitigate, manage, avoid, and recover from risks and negative events in both technologies and business processes.
The primary goal of cybersecurity is to achieve the CIA triad: Maintaining confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information and systems under the care of any organization charged with that mandate. This means protecting sensitive data such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) from unauthorized access, ensuring its accuracy and reliability , and ensuring that critical systems are available when needed.
One way to achieve the CIA triad is by leveraging virtual Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO) services to secure confidential business processes, protect information and sensitive systems.
To manage cybersecurity threats, organizations must first understand the inherent risks that they are exposed that are manifested in technologies that they use and the business processes they perform. This involves evaluating all systems and processes in use or managed by the organization, as well as those employed by service providers to serve clients, members, or constituents.
Understanding the probability and likelihood of potential risks, such as data leakage, data theft, or denial-of-service attacks, is crucial in developing a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy.
Does taking a holistic look at your organizations entire area of business operations to determine this probability seems daunting? It should, because it is.
Services that a vCISO can provide include those that help organizations develop a complete information security program that would include:
As well as ongoing activities that would continue after the infosec program is in place:
Implementing appropriate security is like fitting the pieces of a puzzle together. When the implementation is done you want the pieces to fit together to show the landscape that is that is the cybersecurity program comprised of different layers of protection. For this reason, make sure the information security program needs to be tailored to the uniqueness of your organization and the industry within which you operate.
Implementing these cybersecurity measures requires a skilled team with expertise in each of the above areas. Typically, organizations will need 5 to 10 cybersecurity experts to handle the complexities of cybersecurity risk management effectively.
However, many organizations face challenges in staffing the right talent to manage cybersecurity risks. To overcome this hurdle, some have adopted the vCISO approach by utilizing cybersecurity service providers that offer a range of cybersecurity services without adding to the organization's overhead costs.
Delegating external cybersecurity management can prove to be an economical solution, similar to how businesses hire financial services from external vendors. It allows organizations to access expert-level cybersecurity services without the burden of hiring and maintaining an extensive cybersecurity team.
In future insights, we will delve into multiple service areas and provide more detailed information on what each entail. This will include how organizations can meet their staffing challenges and filling the skills gap that is required to mitigate evolving cybersecurity threats.
