Businesses should prepare plans to guard against new cyber attacks, data breaches
Q: What do business owners need to do to guard against cyber attacks and data breaches this year?
A: Having an IT (information technology) strategic plan in place before an incident occurs will ensure recovery is more effective and risk is minimized. No matter the size of the business, breaches can be very expensive. In 2016, they cost businesses nearly $4 billion and exposed an average of 24,000 records per incident, according to Harvard Business Review.
Q: Where should business owners start when it comes to analyzing the cyber security measures and developing an IT strategic plan?
A: The first step is to survey your internal systems and servers to identify any valuable data and review how it currently is being protected, if at all. It’s important to analyze all potential entry points into your network or systems. Because of the rise of the Internet of Things, data security isn’t just about servers and storage devices, but also can include other end points and devices such as smart thermostats, cameras and cars. As more and more devices become connected to each other, the risk increases for data breaches and malware infecting the business network. Executives need to create an IT plan of response should a data breach or network become infected. How will they execute a series of actions to contain the breach or malware? How will they inform their customers? How will they regain customer trust once a network breach has occurred? All are consequences that will truly test the best of business leaders.
Q: For what new cyber security risks, threats and trends should businesses be prepared?
A: Businesses are experiencing attacks from all vectors, channels and geographies. We anticipate the new Internet of Things reality will require we remove employees from the traditional security discipline and develop new solutions to secure corporate data and mitigate risk. In the coming year, we believe that hybrid forms of artificial intelligence will become available to provide new and practical applications to move forward toward a more secure business future.