Why You Should Build Your Cyber Resilience

 

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Cyberattack threats are headed for your business. In the recent IBM Cyber Resilient Organizations Study 2021, researchers reported that 67% of respondents said that the volume and severity of cybersecurity incidents that they’re facing has increased in the past 12 months. With the pace so high, you can’t afford to put your business operations on hold while you pivot to incident response. That’s why you need to make sure that you’re building a cyber resilient organization that can keep on chugging in adverse conditions.  

One of the most impactful ways that you can build your cyber resilience is by choosing a zero-trust approach to your company’s security. When researchers asked the leading businesses in the survey about the benefits of zero-trust security, 65% said that zero-trust security has fundamentally strengthened their cyber resilience.  

Zero-trust security architecture is also the model that the US federal government is moving toward, and elements of that strategy will be required for federal contractors in the near future. Start your journey to a cyber-resilient zero-trust security model by implementing identity and access management (IAM) with s a solution like Passly. Multifactor authentication, a feature of IAM solutions, is a foundational element of zero-trust security as well as a smart choice to immediately improve your company’s cyber resilience.  

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831

Adopting Zero-Trust Security

Adopting Zero-Trust Security 

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Zero-trust security has been a hot topic, especially in light of rulemaking by the US federal government to move agencies and government contractors into a zero-trust framework in response to a spate of damaging high-profile infrastructure and supply chain attacks that sometimes included nation-state threat actors in 2021. The Colonial Pipeline incident and the subsequent outcry was a major catalyst for action at both the federal and state level. Cybersecurity legislation is on the agenda in every state legislature and congress, and many of those proposals include zero-trust elements. 

The Cyber Resilient Organizations Study has previously reported on the benefits of zero-trust security. This year, researchers took another look at how using a zero-trust approach to security benefits businesses and reduces risk, specifically by boosting their cyber resilience. Those findings showed that 35% of respondent organizations said that they have already adopted a zero-trust security strategy. Of that group, 65% agreed that zero-trust security fundamentally strengthens cyber resilience. That’s a great idicator that increased cyber resilience is a useful goal when looking ant big-piture ways to avoid a costly data breach. 

Why Are Companies Adopting Zero-Trust? 

• 66% said to improve operational efficiency
• 63% to reduce security risks
• 38% said for better IT team support
• 34% said to reduce costs
• 23% said for a competitive advantage
• 4% cited other reasons like regulation

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What Leaders Are Doing & How to Follow Them 

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Taking a look at what the leading organizations in the survey are doing to achieve high cyber resilience is important to determine exactly what benefits businesses get from building their cyber resilience. It also opens a window into the security mindset of leading organizations. There have been a few changes from 2020’s results that are evident in the 2021 survey as businesses have grappled with the volatility of today’s threat landscape.  

What Are Leaders Considering? 

• 66% of 2021 leaders say that security automation and AI are important, up slightly from 63% in 2020 
• 60% recognize that cyber resilience impacts a company’s revenue, up from 56% in 2020 
• 41% say that cyber resilience impacts brand value and reputation, down from 46% in 2020 
• And new this year, 41% of leaders are regularly assessing third-party risk 

IBM also lays out a series of recommendations to improve cyber resilience: 

• Create and test incident response plans: comparison research shows that regularly updating and reviewing incident response plans was a key reason why cyber resilience improved for 47% of high performers. IBM recommends developing both enterprise-wide CSIRPs and threat-specific incident response plans as well as drilling them regularly. 
• Protect your critical databases: 52% of the survey respondents ranked leakage of high-value information assets as a key measure of severity in data breach incidents.  Developing a comprehensive data security strategy is suggested to help organizations reduce risk. 
• Keep systems running with advanced protection from cyberthreats: 47% of the companies surveyed ranked data center downtime as a key measure of severity. The report points to proactive threat management with a zero-trust approach as a good way to avoid system downtime. 
• Speed up analysis with AI and threat intelligence: 47% of respondents cited diminished productivity of employees as a measure of severity in security incidents. More advanced analytics and automated workflows are pointed out as processes that can give teams time back for threat investigation. 
• Break down silos and increase visibility: High-performing organizations said that the inability to reduce silos(87%) and lack of visibility into applications and data assets (74%) were their top two blockers when it comes to improving their cyber resilience. Researchers say that an open platform that fosters integrations between technology can help unite disjointed processes and data and provide broad visibility. 
• Implement a patch management strategy: Delay in patching vulnerabilities is always a security bugbear, and 59% of average respondents cited it as a major reason why their organization’s cyber resilience didn’t improve. IBM suggests a formal vulnerability management program to help cybersecurity teams proactively identify, prioritize and remediate the vulnerabilities that threaten critical assets. 

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831

Are You Prepared to Face Today’s Prime Threat?

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The 9th edition of The ENISA Threat Landscape (ETL) report is out, and it lays out the findings of their experts and observers after analyzing what they saw in 2021 including the biggest threats that they see businesses facing today. 

To no one’s surprise, ransomware topped the list, climbing up from thirteenth place last year. It was followed by its progenitor malware, falling from the top spot down to number two and cryptojacking which climbed up to number three in 2021 from fifteenth place in 2020.  

What does this mean for your business? That building a strong defense against ransomware and mitigating your ransomware risk is more important than it’s ever been before to the continued success of your business – after all, 60% of businesses that are hit by a cyberattack shutter within a year.  

Your business isn’t immune to this danger. No business is too small to become the next victim of a ransomware attack – 50% of ransomware attacks in the last 12 months have hit SMBs, and 55% of those ransomware attacks have hit businesses with fewer than 100 employees. ENISA researchers cautioned that small ransoms are popular with cybercriminals because they can get paid without troublesome press coverage. 

Be sure that you’ve got the right defenses in place, including a security awareness program like BullPhish ID that helps you defend against ransomware and other cyberattacks to ensure that that your business is ready for whatever cyberthreats you may face in the future.

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831

Is Stress Impacting Your Business Security?

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We’ve all been through some tough times in the last year, and that’s ratcheted up stress at home and at work. Unfortunately, that’s not just a factor that impacts your company’s efficiency and performance, Stress and burnout also play a big role in the state of your company’s cybersecurity. 

For the last few years, the cybersecurity sector has been grappling with the problem of an increasing cybersecurity skills shortage. Just last month, federal officials disclosed that there are an estimated 500,000 unfilled existing cybersecurity jobs. That means every team is trying to more work with fewer hands to carry the load. 

So how can businesses reduce stress on their cybersecurity teams while increasing their overall security? By increasing their investment in security automation. In an IBM report, researchers noted that automation reduces stress on security teams by decreasing trouble tickets and increasing efficiency while improving a company’s cyber resilience, an important measure of your company’s ability to resist cyberattack damage. 

Today’s leading security solutions include automated elements that will give your business an edge over stress as well as cybercrime. Why file password reset tickets when a solution like Passly handles it automatically? Set it and forget it when you automate your security awareness training program with a solution  Make it a priority to see how security automation can benefit your business and your employees.   

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831

Are You Ready to Face Fresh Ransomware Threats?

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Ransomware incidents are regular newsmakers. But it’s not just the big dogs who are facing increased cyberattack danger from ransomware threats. Did you know that 50% of ransomware attacks last year were actually aimed at small and medium businesses?

We’ve all read and heard about the enormous sums that cybercriminals are asking for as ransoms in their various extortion schemes. But ransomware attacks are incredibly expensive without even considering the ransom. Companies impacted by ransomware lose an average of six working days, and an estimated 37% of companies experienced downtime that lasted one week or more. 

No business can afford to shutter for a week. But many small and medium businesses are facing tough budget decisions this year, putting the squeeze on every department, including IT, and that can make it hard to shake out the cash to invest in new solutions. You need to find the right solutions, the kind that offers you strong protection against ransomware and a great value.

That’s not as hard as you may think. Protecting your business from ransomware threats starts with protecting your business from phishing attacks. Security awareness training that includes phishing resistance using a solution like BullPhish ID will help your business build cyber resilience, enabling it to resist more cyberattacks and keep on moving in adverse conditions.

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831

Expert Advice Will Help You Build a Stronger Defense Against Cyberattacks

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The market is awash in software that makes all sorts of promises. Not only that, much of the information available about those solutions is an impenetrable morass of jargon. You need to make sure that you have the right security solutions in place to protect your business from rising cybercrime rates, but how can you be sure that you are choosing the right ones? 

Seeking out a trusted, informed advisor is the best way for you to make sure that you’re finding the right solutions for your business. An expert like an MSP will be able to offer you important guideposts for determining the suitability of a solution for your company’s needs. By conducting security and privacy assessments, your MSP can give you hard data on exactly how your company’s security will benefit from a new solution.

Many industries around the world also have complex compliance and regulatory requirements that businesses in that sector need to meet. For US Government contractors, moving to a zero-trust framework is critical to remaining compliant with ongoing cybersecurity rulemaking and legislation. Companies in the beleaguered healthcare sector need to be sure that they’re doing everything that they can to put strong protections on the client data that they maintain or risk a HIPAA disaster. Every organization in the EU faces the prospect of ever-increasing fines and penalties in the event of a GDPR violation.

Don’t take chances with your business IT security. It’s just too important – 60% of companies who are damaged in one cyberattack go out of business within a year. Stay out of that number by getting regular risk assessments and tuning up your security regularly with advice from an expert in the field that you know you can trust.

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831

It’s the Truth: Security Awareness Training Works

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Everyone’s trying to control their spending these days as businesses start to climb back from the tumult caused by the global pandemic. As you start that climb you may be reviewing your budget to make sure that you’re not wasting money somewhere. But when you’re reviewing your expenditures, don’t put security awareness training on the chopping block – it could be the difference between life and death for your business. 

Many business owners think cybersecurity and cyberattacks are only problems for big companies and won’t impact them. An IBM report noted that  60% of SMB owners feel that their business will not face any kind of cyberattack including threats like ransomware in the next year, a dangerously incorrect assumption. An estimated 55% of ransomware attacks now involve companies with fewer than 100 employees. 

But with a limited budget, you’re certainly looking at the ROI on your business spending. So how good of an investment is security awareness training? It’s a very good investment with an impressive ROI. On average, smaller organizations (under 1,000 employees) can enjoy an ROI of 69% from a training program. The ROI is even bigger for larger organizations (1,000+ employees) at 562%.  

The most important factor is this one: Businesses that conduct regular security awareness training are up to 70% less likely to have a cybersecurity incident. Beginning or revamping your training program is easy with an affordable, effective solution like BullPhish ID. By giving your employees training in the phishing threats that they actually face every day using customized content and other threats like ransomware and credential compromise, you can ensure that the smart money is on your business staying safe from cybercrime.

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831

How Attractive is Your Business to Ransomware Gangs?

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It seems like every other cybersecurity story that you come across these days is talking about another audacious ransomware attack. Ransomware attacks increased by 288% between Q1 and Q2 2021 across the board. But while it may seem like cybercriminals are just targeting everyone, there’s actually a method to the madness, and knowing a little more about that can help you keep your business safe. 

Geography matters. Businesses in the US are the most popular choice for cybercriminals, with almost half of ads measured in a popular dark web cybercrime forum looking for access to US companies. Canada (37%), Australia (37%), and European countries (31%) were also contenders.  To compare, organizations located in Asia (33%), North America (30%) and Europe (27%) were the hardest hit by ransomware attacks in 2020.

Industry is also an important factor in a company’s likelihood of a ransomware attack. Manufacturers, suppliers and business services companies are hot targets. Cybercriminals love a 2 for 2 bargain, like a successful attack on a small company that can give them an access point that enables them to attack a larger, wealthier corporation.

No matter what industry you’re in, making sure that your business is ready to fight back against a ransomware attack is critical to your future success – 60% of companies that fall victim to a cyberattack go out of business within a year.

The most common delivery system for ransomware is a phishing email. But security awareness training can reduce your company’s chance of experiencing a successful phishing attack by up to 70%.

Choose a solution like BullPhish ID that offers you a wide variety of content options from customized training materials to plug and play phishing campaign kits to make sure you’re getting exactly what you need, and start training your staff to spot and stop threats in order to effectively protect your business from ransomware and other damaging threats. .

Bit by bit helps client networks run smooth and secure.. visit our website at www.bitxbit.com/texas 877.860.5831