Most businesses today enjoy enormous advantages as a result of technology. This isn’t a static element, either. We frequently see how new hardware, software, and ways to use each of these can develop into smarter practices. That said, it’s not just the advantages of technology that are fluid; it’s also the risks.
It is an unfortunate fact of our digital landscape that there are a significant number of illicit actors finding creative ways to take advantage of vulnerabilities in our systems. They don’t just utilize the standard types of breach, they look for new opportunities and behaviors that may present weakness – like the recent widespread adoption of remote operations. This means that, as a business leader, you can’t just consider how to implement developing technology. You must also be planning your cybersecurity policies and protocols with an uncertain future in mind.
We’re going to examine a few of the most important areas your business should be focusing on here. How can you best protect all stakeholders from the potential for disruption and damage? Where can you concentrate your resources now so that you can operate safely in the future?
Keeping Up To Date
If you don’t know what the current threat status is, or even the direction that it is likely to head in, you’ll find it difficult to mount effective preparation or response. As such, your cybersecurity protocols must have an emphasis on keeping up to date.
This should include:
- Reviewing Trends
Your business can’t simply wait for trends to already be affecting your operations before you make preparations. A few times a year you, alongside your information technology (IT) department, should make efforts to review tech trends specifically in your industry, and in the world at large. Understand how these might be implemented in your practices and how this could impact security. Right now elements such as the rise of contactless payments, artificial intelligence (AI) data analytics, and the adoption of the internet of things (IoT) are all key areas in discussions and concerns surrounding privacy.
Remember that these trends don’t just revolve around the tech itself but are also affected by the public’s developing attitudes toward them, which in turn affects their behavior. Use these assessments to shape your policies, and influence the ongoing direction of your protocol development.
- Maintaining Expert Relationships
One of the most effective ways of keeping up to date with the latest cybersecurity information is encouraging your IT department to build and maintain good relationships with others in their industry. This provides forums through which to obtain not just the most relevant information about threats, but also the best ways in which they can be tackled. Make it a part of your wider cybersecurity policies to provide investment that enables relevant staff to attend conferences, seminars, and training courses. Encourage them to engage in discussions with relevant social media cybersecurity influencers, and build professional connections with industry leaders.
Focusing on Behavioral Education
Poor staff behavior is among the primary reasons for a cybersecurity breach. This isn’t necessarily due to any kind of malice, it is more indicative of the very casual nature with which many of us treat our internet and technology usage in our daily lives. This is unlikely to change any time soon, so there is an imperative to designing cybersecurity protocols that acknowledge and address the potential for behavior-based issues in the future.
This should include a raft of regular education provisions for all members of staff. While there should certainly be rules in place about staff behavior, these will generally be more effective if employees actually understand the difference their actions make. If your workplace is one of the many utilizing bring your own device (BYOD) practices, you must give not just informational but practical advice on what the threats are and what tools can keep everyone safe. For this to be fit for the future, however, there needs to be a commitment toward updates and regular refreshers. This can take the form of formal in-person courses, or e-learning modules that staff can undertake at their own workstations.
Staying Agile
One of the most important considerations for your cybersecurity protocols is ensuring your ability to respond when threat situations change and develop in the future. This means that you have to design policies and planning that provide a solid foundation of basic secure principles, but also allow for agility. This can prevent you from being so set in your ways that you are unable to shift with the times.
This can include:
- Project Liaisons
Various types of new activity can pose their own cybersecurity challenges. This is particularly relevant when new software or hardware is being introduced to meet the demands of specific projects. Including cybersecurity or IT staff as key members of projects, or at the very least as liaisons, from the outset of a project can help influence the direction in a way that bakes cyber sanitary tools and practices into the new processes.
- Elastic Tools
Your protocols need to include tools that can be expanded and contracted as the changing need requires. A good example here is security for the recent widespread adoption of flexible or blended remote working practices. Some of the key elements that keep business and data safe in this vulnerable environment are virtual private networks (VPNs) and cloud storage services. While these can help boost security, it’s worth noting that they are often subject to limitations in terms of usage volume. Whether it is these remote platforms or your antivirus software, your tool capacity needs to be able to expand as and when the usage in your company fluctuates. This means working with providers to make certain that the most appropriate limits are in place, and can be adjusted easily when necessary.
Conclusion
A rapidly developing technological and business landscape brings with it equally changeable threats. To stay prepared and protected in the future, your cybersecurity protocols must include a commitment to information gathering and addressing staff behavior. Alongside agile tools and practices, these steps can help minimize the potential for damage and disruption wherever the future takes your business.
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