The potential of cyberattacks will always remain high on every business’s risk chart. However, your network’s cybersecurity can determine whether or not these attacks can happen. You can take various steps to shield your business from cyber threats. And adopting a robust cybersecurity framework is one of the steps.
There are various cybersecurity frameworks available today. However, it’s vital to choose one that aligns with your industry of operation. For instance, if you are in the health sector, it would be best to adopt the health insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA) framework. This can also help ensure your network follows compliance as the framework describes it. Furthermore, implementing software upgrades and patching can be much easier using the framework’s recommendations.
Nevertheless, whichever framework you adopt, cybersecurity guidelines can help reduce your network’s vulnerability to data breaches. Below are some core ways in which cybersecurity frameworks can help you achieve this.
Table of Contents
1. Help Identify Potential Risk Areas
One of the significant bases of cybersecurity frameworks is identification. In essence, it can help identify various assets in your business and ascertain their potential exposure to cyber threats. In addition, it also identifies data, users, and other functionalities in your business that may require cybersecurity attention.
From this identification process, you can formulate your cybersecurity policies. Additionally, you can use the identification results to perform a risk assessment exercise. This can help you determine high-risk sections in your business. This way, you can know the risk your network faces and possible mitigation steps you can take.
2. Helps Develop And Implement Necessary Protection Tools
Identifying your business’s cybersecurity needs is crucial. However, identification without action isn’t sufficient. This is where the protection aspect of the framework is vital. Once you know what and where cybersecurity measures are needed, it can be easier to achieve your cybersecurity objectives.
Extensive staff training is one of the protection steps that a cybersecurity framework advocates. Cybersecurity experts indicate that team members are one of your crucial defense points against cyberattacks. Therefore, once your team is aware of the possible threats and risks, it can significantly boost your guard against security breaches. In addition, it’s essential to train the staff in the steps to take if they identify a cyber threat or a network intrusion.
There are other robust protection tools you can also implement, for instance, by setting appropriate access controls and restriction levels. This way, your sensitive information can only be accessible to relevant users. Doing so can limit the scope of exposure, thus reducing your risk of a data breach.
Additionally, most cybersecurity frameworks detail the need for regular software updates, upgrades, and patching. Your IT team or service provider should always be alert and advise you whenever software developers roll out new versions. These versions can be the difference in preventing a cyber threat such as malware or ransomware attack.
Cybersecurity frameworks can also outline necessary compliance guidelines. For instance, if your business allows online payments, it would be best to adhere to payment card industry data security standards (PCI DSS). Overall, a cybersecurity framework can ensure that you have measures and policies that reinforce your network’s protection against cyber threats.
3. Enforces Network Monitoring And Incident Response
While you may have all protection parameters worked out, it doesn’t mean that your network is impenetrable. You can still experience occasional data breaches, and your network protection measures can be ineffective if you don’t have detection procedures.
With a cybersecurity framework, you can devise and implement network monitoring processes. Such processes can help detect network intrusions in time. Thus, you may consider installing such features as firewalls in your system. In addition, you might also need to have a network monitoring team to keep an eye out for anomalies.
Furthermore, the monitoring process should ideally outline the response procedures in case of threat detection. Your incident response plan can determine the success of your network monitoring measures. Hence, the need to ensure you implement requirements and recommendations under the relevant cybersecurity framework.
Some response protocols you can institute include communication and threat mitigation procedures. You can develop these protocols based on the type of intrusion or threat. Moreso, it would be best to have measures that outline how you can improve your cybersecurity after an incident.
4. Outlines Recovery Guidelines
Sometimes a cyberattack can go unnoticed until after it occurs. You may not get the chance to apply your response protocols to curb its effects. Therefore, you might end up losing crucial data in the process. Whether or not you can reduce the damage depends on whether you have a recovery plan.
Cybersecurity frameworks provide guidelines you can undertake to recover from a cyber-attack. These guidelines can include a recommendation for offsite data backup plans. In addition, the framework can help you develop other measures to restore system features damaged by an attack. Thus, using a cybersecurity framework can help you get your operations running within a shorter period after a cyber-attack.
Conclusion
Your business’s internet activities mean that it could be vulnerable to cyber-attacks. With that, it would be best to have robust cybersecurity protocols to shield your organization against these attacks. Adopting one of the many available cybersecurity frameworks can help enhance your protection.
