How Does Cyber Resilience Work? – It is difficult to imagine living in the 21st century without technology. Technology influences every aspect of life. Most modern life experiences are recorded, produced, or created using technology. For many, making it through the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 would have been a lot more difficult without access to technology. Technology made it possible for businesses to continue to offer quality products and services. It made it possible for people to go to work and stay connected.
With all the positive things that technology has given society, there have been some downsides. These include security risks that are faced by individuals and organizations. It has been disturbing to see the increase in the number of cyber-attacks. Nefarious individuals are working harder to take advantage of people. Besides cybersecurity, cyber resilience has become a key factor in protecting people and organizations.
What Is Cyber Resilience?
Cyber resiliency is not the ability to prevent a cyber-attack. Instead, it is built on the idea that there is no such thing as a 100 percent foolproof cybersecurity system. Cyber resiliency is a plan of attack when cybersecurity fails. If there is a data breach, cyber resiliency allows an organization or an individual to continue to work effectively.
You can say that a person or organization has cyber resiliency when they can minimize the negative effects caused by a cyber-attack. When an attack happens, they can protect information, keep the organization functioning continuously, and quickly react in the moments following the incident.
Creating a Strategy with Cyber Resiliency in Mind
Cyber resiliency does not happen by accident. Instead, it results from planning that continues to evolve as new threats become apparent. It results from doing penetration testing, filling out protection questionnaires, and then creating a plan to respond to the what if.
The first element of cyber resiliency is the ability to manage and protect. This means analyzing and handling security threats by identifying the information and systems that are the most vulnerable. Take into consideration third- and fourth-party vendors and the potential security breaches interacting with them could cause.
The next step is identifying and detecting. This means having continuous security monitoring and surface managing of potential threats. With this step, the goal is not to prevent the attack. It is to identify when an attack is in progress or has happened with the goal of reacting quickly before serious damage occurs.
The next stage of the strategy is the response and recovery stage. This means you are going to plan to ensure that business or personal life continues even after being a victim of a cyber-attack.
The final stage of the strategy is governance and assurance. This means you identify who in your organization has what responsibilities in the event of a cyber-attack. Who has the responsibility to notify employees, customers, vendors, and regulatory agencies?
The Benefits of Being Cyber Resilient
You and your organization can put every cybersecurity method in place that you want. You can make it hard for cyber criminals to go about their business. But there is nothing that you can do to prevent a cyber-attack or data breach.
Cyber resiliency protects against threats, ensures recoverability, creates a culture of adaptability, and builds durability. Cyber resiliency is built on the idea that traditional protection measures on their own are not sufficient. It offers several advantages before, during, and even after a cyber-attack. Don’t wait until it is too late. Now is the time to learn about the topic and take steps to keep your organization and personal life safe.