Large corporations require having cybersecurity and data security plans in place, and they should. Cybersecurity threats and damages are estimated to reach $6 trillion by 2021. You’ve tasked your IT department with implementing your security program, and that’s a logical choice. So how is your organization assessing risk within your environment? Are you measuring the efficacy of your current information security program solutions and damage mitigation? How often are you re-evaluating your security program and the effective controls (quarterly, semi-annually, annually)?
What are Information Security Program Standards?
The main objective of cybersecurity standards is to reduce the risks and costs of cyberattacks using preventive and mitigation processes. The IT collection of actions, assurances, best practices, concepts, guidelines, policies, risk management approaches, safeguards, technology updates, tools, and training requirements are overwhelming, to say the least.
Your IT professionals may follow an information security program and processes established by companies seeking to standardize cybersecurity, or they may follow a program modeled on organizations that have standards in place:
- ISO (International Organization for Standardization)/IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) – System/processes that make management in control of information security
- IASME International Association of Mechanical Engineers – Small- to mid-size business cybersecurity readiness
- NERC North American Electric Reliability Corporation – Creates cybersecurity processes for electrical power industry
- NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology – Provides a high-level taxonomy of cybersecurity outcomes and a methodology to assess and manage those outcomes
- PCI DSS Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard – Branded credit card cybersecurity
- CISQ Consortium for IT Software Quality – Software quality measurement
- ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and TC CYBER (Technical Committee) – International cybersecurity standardization
The question is, are your cybersecurity processes forward-thinking and robust enough to protect your organization and mitigate vulnerabilities and potential breaches? More important, are you staying current with the appropriate standards?
What Can YOU Do?
As a business decision-maker or IT program manager, the first thing you can do is to make sure your employee IT training programs are taken seriously. This means everyone – from the CEO to the customer service rep at the front desk – everyone should understand the risks that can endanger the company and them personally as a result of cybersecurity exposures. Your employees are your business and they should not only be in compliance with your information security program, they should take steps to safeguard it.
Your Information Security Program Should Be Customized
Your company’s IT professionals have a general knowledge of what the company needs. But there’s probably one employee in your credit card division who knows even more about the security needs in that particular department. Find every risk, every exposure, and work to develop a customized solution.
Find the Money
Cybersecurity exposure is more like an explosion than a leak. It’s much easier to budget for an information security program than it is to scramble to find enough money for effective damage-control. “Instead of seeing this as a cost, training should be seen as a strong control that could safeguard pivotal information . . . A well-documented business case, with cost benefits analysis would…go a long way in allocating the budgets,” says Sanil Nadkarni, SLK Global.
When You Need to Know
Again, an information security program is not one-size-fits-all. No matter where you are today in the business cycle, your company’s evolution is moving almost as fast as cyber-technology. Atrion can align your current technological capabilities with your business direction. We’ll assess and offer cybersecurity solutions that can work with your ever-changing environment.
Technology integration and authorized training are some of the ways your strategic planning can be put in place. What do you need to know? Call 908-231-7777 or contact Atrion to schedule an assessment. Let’s learn together.
