2022 Cybersecurity & Resilience Guide

August 1, 2022

Cybersecurity threats like ransomware are some of the most pervasive threats to our global infrastructure. The traditional cybersecurity framework primarily involves defending networks, electronic systems, servers, mobile devices, etc., from malicious attacks, but it doesn’t address an organization’s most valuable asset: its data. As the cybersecurity threat landscape continues to expand, organizations need to look at data security as the next frontier in cybersecurity.

What is Cyber Resilience?

Cyber resilience is knowing that no organization is immune from a ransomware attack. Every business and government agency needs to be prepared for an attack and have a recovery plan in place, including built-in immutable backups safeguarded from corruption. The key to becoming a cyber resilient organization is knowing when you are attacked, what data is infected and how quickly you can recover a clean copy of that data to return back to business as usual.

It’s also paramount for organizations to know what they’re up against. A ransomware attack isn’t an army attacking a fortress’s walls. It’s a sneaky bad guy making their way through your defenses unnoticed and slowly collecting intel over a long period of time. Traditional network and infrastructure cybersecurity protocols aren’t prepared to deal with this kind of threat.

Cyber resilience is not an off-the-shelf solution. It’s built over time as organizations prepare for potential threats and secure resources to recover after an attack or disaster. It’s essential for organizations to acknowledge that hackers have the advantage of innovative tools and the element of surprise to hit their targets successfully. Betanews reported that cyber criminals could penetrate 93% of company networks.

Resilience and Enterprise Operations

The key to cyber resilience is deeply understanding risks and how to limit risk exposure. Organizations need to focus on identifying data that could be valuable to a hacker and continually monitor those datasets to ensure that if there’s anything phishy going on, you’re aware of it (see what I did there?). Data that is popular for hackers to target could be any personally identifiable information (PII) like social security numbers or healthcare records. Workloads like Microsoft 365 are also hot targets for hackers. Identifying risk indicators and then formulating strategies to reduce the risk will help mitigate these threats.

How To Build Corporate Cyber Resilience

When evaluating cyber resilience, IT and security teams must consider cyber risks to avoid critical failures. A great mantra to consider when creating your resilience strategy: protect, detect and evolve. A reliable cyber resilience strategy first aims to protect your current systems, applications and data. This could be as simple as deploying automated immutable backups to ensure you have a clean copy of data to recover when needed.

Additionally, adopting a "Zero Trust" cybersecurity approach will aid in the detection of any vulnerabilities or anomalies in your current systems. With sophisticated cyber attacks, it can be challenging to see malicious activities, though you can establish protocols to ensure cyber hygiene. This includes regular habits and best practices regarding technology use, such as optimal data health, secure user access, end-to-end encryption, restricted application access and hardened API security. 84% of all cyber attacks in 2021 were distributed via e-mail phishing attacks. This is why it’s crucial to educate employees on security best practices and have protocols to ensure a high level of cyber hygiene in your organization.

A significant component of a cyber resilience plan is your organization’s ability to adapt and evolve your security posture. Due to the diligence of hackers and the available resources, they’re constantly identifying new vulnerabilities as they are aware that what worked yesterday may not work today. This requires enterprises and government agencies alike to continuously evolve their cyber resiliency strategy and identify new ways to keep their systems, applications and data safe.

Request a meeting with Optiv and Rubrik today to learn how to develop a cyber resiliency strategy unique to your business and built to withstand today’s threats.