Cyber Defense: Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover

New cyberattacks are on the rise, and basic cyber security is no longer sufficient to protect your company’s data. As a result, iron-clad data breach prevention has become a top priority. The National Institute of Standards and Technology www.nist.gov contends the top five universal elements of a cyber attack prevention plan are: “Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover.” It is essential to understand each of these functions and why they are important:

• Identify – It is difficult to defend against something you don’t understand. By understanding your SMB’s cyber security risks and all of its vulnerabilities, you will gain insights into your cyber attack prevention components. In this category, understanding your supply chain, external connections and internal functions will help you identify the most vulnerable areas of your company.
• Protect – Cyber attack protection against data breaches, identity theft and the misuse of passwords and permissions has never been more critical in the expanded remote work environment. A hybrid workforce of some employees working from home and some from a physical office has opened new doors to hackers. Comprehensive protection should be created with the help of IT experts. After creating a plan, it is vital to get your staffers on the same page by empowering them with cyber security best practices training.
• Detect – Detection is the function of cyber security that quickly identifies what activities constitute cyber events that should be reported.
• Respond – Response involves all the actions that can be taken when a cyber security threat is identified. For example, such acts might include quarantining or deletion of malicious files.
• Recover – Recovery is directly related to the strength of your business’s cyber security plan. A strong plan will afford your company resilience in the face of a cyberattack. Successful recovery is measured by how quickly a threat is detected, mitigated and resolved with little or no impact or downtime on normal business operations.

Cyber Attack Prevention for Your SMB

The best possible scenario is having robust cyber security in place before your hard-earned data has been breached or your website has been hacked. As our use of online technology now encompasses so many areas of our personal and business lives, cybercriminals continue to stay in step and find new ways to attack private and business data. Unfortunately, smaller businesses have neither the time nor the budget for a full-time IT department. However, it is essential to employ IT experts to help you create the best cyber protection plan that encompasses detailed planning to Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond and Recover from any cyber threats. A professional plan designed in advance could head off hacks before the Recover function becomes necessary.

Case Study

The managing partner of an accounting firm in Baltimore felt that he was a tech-savvy power user and could handle the cyber security functions required to protect their company’s system. He managed to install a reputable off-the-shelf anti-virus program and even added a VPN to the business network devices. Unfortunately, the partner “didn’t know what he didn’t know.” Because he was an accountant and not an IT professional, he wasn’t up to speed on the new and growing number of malware and phishing attacks. He also did not have sufficient time to focus on updates and IT maintenance. Most of his employees knew less about the tech world than he did and had no cyber protection rules to follow. No one was concerned about password protection, permissions or protocols for opening email attachments and clicking on unknown links. As a result, the firm got hacked and had to scramble to find a cyber security company to discern and analyze the source and type of the attack. The IT experts the firm brought in took more than 1-1/2 business days to stop and mitigate the consequences of the attack. Then, working backward, they figured out what needed to be done to get the firm secure and functional and what protections and plans were required to keep the company’s data safe going forward.

Unfortunately, the managing partner of the accounting firm was “penny-wise and pound foolish.” Subsequently, the costs related to the cyberattack, including the loss of business during the downtime and the costs and consequences of having IT professionals analyze and fix the problem, were astronomical. The work ended up costing the firm significantly more money than if it had paid to have the appropriate cyber security in place from the start.

DIGIGUARD Cyber Security Are Data Breach Prevention Specialists

DIGIGUARD, specializing in preventing cyber threats of all kinds, has a wide array of solutions to protect against cybercrimes and ensure you have the best possible protection. It works with small and midsized businesses to establish cyber security best practices to ensure your confidential data is secure and all your devices have the specific protections they require, especially those used for remote-access work. For any business, cyberattacks can have devastating consequences. DIGIGUARD can assess your cyber risks and work with you to design the best protection solutions for your business.

Call DIGIGUARD CYBER SECURITY at 833-33-CYBER (833-332-9237) and visit www.DIGIGUARDsecurity.com to discuss how you can increase your company’s level of cyber security and avoid a deadly cyberattack.