Enterprises today must be armed with sophisticated AI-backed defense tools and also have multi-pronged risk mitigation strategies in place.
The growing sophistication of information security threat actors has put many organizations under tremendous pressure to prepare for effective and timely incident response plans. However, due to a growing need for highly specialized risk and security professionals, the gap between supply and demand of cybersecurity professionals has been widening.
It is estimated that there will be 1.8 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by 20221. This skills gap could limit how an enterprise creates and manages the security and compliance strategy that its business demands.
The situation is further compounded by the fact that many organizations, in view of the ongoing pandemic, have accelerated their transformation efforts. They are under pressure to embrace technologies like IoT and robotics process automation (RPA) to provide safer and efficient employee work environment. However, due to rapid technological changes, swift transformation efforts and complex regulations, many of the technology leaders are unsure of their organization’s security posture. This situation is likely to open up new gateways of information risk and cyber security threats.
Honing risk management practice
Effective strategy and risk management is therefore one of the most pressing security needs for organizations today.
Risks can be both internal and external, and the strategies to mitigate those could be either preventive or responsive. Preventive risks are largely predictive in nature and hence can be tackled using a rules-based approach. Also, with the use of advanced digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, it is possible to bring more and more risks in the ambit of preventable risks. This would make it possible to automate prevention of a large variety of risks.
That said, the dark-web actors are also using advanced technologies to create highly sophisticated attack vectors. These vectors could traverse the networks in stealth modes and are hard to detect in time. For such risks, a rules-based strategy alone doesn’t suffice. There also needs to be a response-based strategy in place, with enough room for having levels A, B, C, …., N in place.
While at the first level, the obvious strategy would be to identify and hunt down a risk before it breaches the information system, there need to be follow-up strategies in place too. If an attack vector is able to breach the system and penetrate deeper, the next levels of defense should be able to contain damage by alerting other preventive mechanisms. In the worst case, if the attack is able to cause more damage and bring down a system, the strategy to restore the system in shortest possible time should also be well defined.
Have commandos on call
Unfortunately, the threat landscape is evolving faster than businesses can respond, thus leaving many organizations scrambling to find right strategies for containing cybersecurity threats and meeting compliance.
In the absence of internal security strategy, risk, and compliance professionals, a team of battle-hardened commandos can be of great help in times of emergency. Such an extended team can help your in-house team with virtual expertise and remote resources, align decision-making, and develop a program aligned to your business practices for managing risks and addressing regulatory policies.
Such an approach could also enable you to advance your cybersecurity strategy and assess, reduce, and manage risks with greater aplomb. An experienced and trusted super squad can help you put up the right defenses to counter non-compliance issues and invisible security vulnerabilities that could put your data at risk and jeopardize organizational credibility.
It goes without saying that any dependable risk-management approach should be aligned with all business functions, processes, people, and machines.
IBM as a trusted security advisor
Trusted advisors like IBM have managed enough security engagements of scale to identify risks and recommend rapid solutions to reduce those risks. They house specialists that provide a wide range of risk management services such as security program development, regulatory and standards compliance, and security education and training.
These strategy and risk management efforts are fully supported through Global Command Centers (GCCs), which can help prepare and train your team to perform at their best, even on a bad day. GCC uses an intense immersive environment that provides critical cybersecurity and leadership skills in a simulated and gamified manner. The center is also equipped to provide the best-in-class security solutions to both enterprise and SME clients across the industry spectrum.
1 – (ISC)2Cybersersecurity Workforce shortage projected at 1.8 Million by 2022″, 2017