A Resilient Organization Starts with Cyber Resilience — Here’s Why

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Global events, such as recessions and pandemics, create enormous social and economic challenges that impact organizations and their management. From employee and customer satisfaction to financial difficulties, supply chain disruption and skyrocketing cyberattacks, top-level management oversees a wide range of concerns.

As business owners aim to address multiple challenges that may be a threat to their organizations’ success, resilience is a trending buzzword. Organizational resilience is an organization’s ability to foresee, plan for, respond to and adapt to gradual change and unexpected disruptions to survive and thrive.

Top 5 Threats Internet of Thing (IoT) Devices Pose to Data Protection & Privacy

Gartner Inc. predicted that by 2023, CIOs would be responsible for over three times the endpoints they were responsible for in 2018 due to the rapid evolution of IoT trends and technologies. With billions of physical devices worldwide connected to the internet today, this prediction is on its way to coming true. However, the rapid evolution of IoT technology has proven to be a double-edged sword from a cybersecurity and compliance standpoint.

Think Beyond Basic Backups to Tackle Ransomware

Although ransomware has long been a serious concern for business owners all over the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has created new opportunities for this threat to flourish, and the attack vector is likely to become even more dangerous in the coming years.

According to a report, 304 million ransomware attacks occurred globally in 2020, with ransomware affecting over 65% of global businesses.1 Experts suggest that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Unfortunately, even though SMBs continue to be disproportionately affected by these nefarious attacks, reporting and notifications rarely make the news.

What You Should Know if Your Business Is Targeted by Ransomware

It may not be news to you that ransomware is on the rise, but the numbers may leave you shocked. In 2020 alone, there were close to 300 million ransomware attacks worldwide.1 The cost of ransom payments demanded by hackers are also increasing in tandem with the increase in attacks. According to a recent projection, the global annual cost of ransomware attacks will touch $20 billion by the end of 2021.

PCI-DSS Compliance: What You Should Know

Over the last year, many organizations struggled to keep their private data secure against cyberthreats as they rushed to adapt to pandemic-inspired shifts in workforce and operations. Cybercrime is becoming increasingly prevalent, and the sophistication and volume of cyberattacks is escalating as well. According to a report, over 300 million ransomware attacks occurred in 2020.1

Dealing with a cybersecurity disaster is difficult and brings forth a lot of uncertainty, especially when it involves financial and reputational damage. This holds true for all organizations, and especially for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). SMBs are increasingly becoming prime targets for hackers because they consider these organizations to have insufficient expertise and resources to prevent and respond to attacks.

Stepping Up Your Cybersecurity With Defense in Depth (DiD)

When the pandemic hit, businesses all over the globe had to shift to remote work almost overnight. Now, with the vaccine rollout in full swing, the hybrid work model is gaining popularity. This allows employees to work from home, the office or split their time between both. According to a report, close to 65% of large businesses have adopted a hybrid model, and most workers prefer it that way.1

However, a distributed workforce comes with its own set of challenges. One of the primary concerns of IT leaders across the globe is the unprecedented increase in cybercrime. Experts estimate that cybercrime has shot up by almost 300% since the start of the pandemic.2

The Role of Compliance in Cybersecurity

The overall technology landscape is evolving at a breakneck pace. While these changes are meant to improve the quality of life, the unfortunate flip side is an increase in cyberthreats. This is why global cybersecurity spending increased from nearly $40 billion in 2019 to $54 billion in 2021.1 Unfortunately, due to a lack of spending on personnel or technology, SMBs are most likely to be targeted by threat actors.

Many organizations fall victim to cybercrime because compliance and security are not a high priority for them. For your organization to run smoothly, both compliance and security are critical. While compliance ensures that your organization stays within the bounds of industry or government laws/regulations, security ensures that your organization’s integrity and vital data are safeguarded.

Operational and Data Integrity Risks of Internet of Things (IoT) for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs)

The continued rise in the number of Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices has brought about a host of security challenges for many businesses. As manufacturers compete in a race to bring their IoT devices to market, most fail to include even the most basic security controls necessary to protect the networks these devices connect to or the data they collect or transmit. This leaves businesses of all industries extremely vulnerable to a variety of security risks and cyberthreats.

How to Adopt Zero Trust Security for Your SMB

With the cyberthreat landscape getting more complicated with every passing minute, cybersecurity deserves more attention than ever before. You can no longer put all your faith and trust in applications, interfaces, networks, devices, traffic and users. Misjudging and misplacing your trust in a devious entity can lead to severe breaches that can damage your business. Zero Trust Security practices, however, can go a long way towards helping small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) minimize cybersecurity risks and prevent data breaches.

5 Ways to Combine Compliance & Cybersecurity Best Practices to Improve Outcomes

When you run a business, compliance and security are two essential factors. Both are equally important for the seamless operation of your business. While compliance helps your business stay within the limits of industry or government regulations, security protects the integrity of your business and sensitive data.

It is worth noting that although security is a prime component of compliance, compliance does not equal security. This is because compliance does not consider the growing threat landscape and associated risks. What it considers, however, is a set of pre-defined policies, procedures, controls, etc.