Stronger Security Posture: Where to Start

We talk about information security and its importance all the time. The multitude of attacks in 2022 alone demonstrates its necessity. It’s clear that a strong security posture is vital. But what if you don’t know where to start? This 2-part blog will help identify your security needs and understand how to thoroughly secure your corporate assets.

Understand where your security posture stands

The first step is to understand the status of your current security posture. Do you have security policies and procedures in place? If so, how effective is your employee population at implementing said policies? As a starting point, ask these questions:

• Does your company employ two-factor authentication?
• How do you restrict the use of company devices?
• Do you promote the safe use of social networks and email?
• Are your employees properly trained to prevent any potential breaches?

This list could continue for pages.

When trying to identify where to start, it is also critical to address where the MOST risk exists. In many cases, that place is your human firewall. If your employees are not properly trained, one phishing email could be all it takes to put your company assets at risk.

So, how do you go about training your employees and strengthening that human firewall?

Training your employees

To start, you need to both understand the specific needs of your business, as well as the common approaches attackers will utilize. For example, if you are a banking institution you need to understand that your clients’ financial resources will be targeted. This may be done via vishing, phishing, SMiShing, or impersonation attacks.

Your employees should be aware of each of these attack vectors and know how to guard against them. Company policies need to address how to handle these types of attacks and train employees accordingly. Your employees should be empowered to shut down any attackers, but how do you go about training this? One way is to implement a training program specific to the attack vector you want to guard against. For example, our Fully Managed Vishing Service Program is one of the best ways to help your employees identify and guard against vishing social engineering attacks. Our Managed Phishing Service Program trains employees to protect themselves against phishing emails, and our Managed SMiShing Service Program protects against SMiShing.

Other security assessments can help train against onsite impersonation attacks as well as adversarial simulation attacks. These customized programs develop your employees’ skills as they practice shutting down would-be attackers. There is no better training than experience.

Gain knowledge of proper policies and procedures

When in doubt, take a look at the policies, procedures, and best practices that similar businesses have in place. Go to the experts and ask questions. Find out if you’re handling information security in the most effective and beneficial way

Sources:
https://www.techradar.com/features/top-data-breaches-and-cyber-attacks-of-2022