Creating a Cybersecurity Plan for Your Business

Setting goals that best fit your business and IT budget

Whether it’s a large multinational company or a local business, cybersecurity is something everyone should be aware of and address. What do you need to know? What should you be doing? Here are some answers you can consider as you begin developing a cybersecurity plan of your own.

The Importance of Cybersecurity

When it comes to cybersecurity, you really can’t be too careful. Cybercrime is rapidly on the rise, and the average cost of a security breach has risen to over $15 million in the past few years.

Once upon a time, robust antivirus software would have been enough to protect your business from most cyber threats. Unfortunately, that’s no longer the case. While antivirus and anti-malware software are still vitally important, they’re no longer enough by themselves as the threats grow increasingly sophisticated. These days, nearly 50% of breaches have occurred due to active hacking, 30% involved malware and the rest involved either social engineering, phishing, or both.

If you want to keep ahead of the dangers, here are some suggestions:

What You Need From Your Cybersecurity Plan

An effective cybersecurity plan should succeed at two things. First, it needs to shield your business from outside threats. Second, it needs to minimize the risk of employees carelessly (or even willfully) exposing your sensitive data to hackers.

To begin with, it’s a good idea to make use of a planning tool such as Trello, Wrike, or Monday.com. Tools such as these allow you to record your cybersecurity goals, how you intend to achieve them, and how much progress you’re making and where you may be falling behind. Additionally, you have the ability to revise as necessary and set new goals as you go along.

What Are the Risks and Threats?

Take some time — perhaps lead a brainstorming session — and write down as many risks or threats your business network may be exposed to. Viruses, malware, and ransomware are all obvious things to start with, but also consider human risks such as poor password practices, disgruntled former employees, or current employees who have not been educated in company cybersecurity policies and practices. Also consider environmental risks such as the possibilities of power outages, floods, fires, or other natural disasters and what affect they may have on your business’s network.

Consider the impact of any disaster, be it a security breach, malware infection, or hardware failure, on your operations. Prepare for as many eventualities as you reasonably can and, regularly, review these potential threats to your business continuity.

Identify Maintenance Targets

Makers of antivirus and antispyware software are constantly offering updates that improve their effectiveness. Make sure to check for these updates regularly or, if possible, set your software to automatically download and install crucial patches as they become available. Likewise, pay attention to any system update notices that come your way — many close up previously undiscovered security holes.

Even hardware needs to be checked periodically. Are there repairs that are needed? Have your employees bypassed a device because it wasn’t working properly and inadvertently left your business data exposed? Is your hardware simply old, slow, and out of date? Keep on top of what needs to be repaired or replaced.

Set a company-wide policy to change passwords regularly and to keep them private. Make sure someone on your IT team can monitor access to your wireless network and note any suspicious activity.

Conduct Regularly Scheduled Backups

Back up your important data and system processes on a regular basis. If possible, try to automate these backups so they’re not forgotten. Many local and cloud-based data storage systems have options to run scheduled backup routines. Take advantage of those.

Decide how often you’ll back up your data and how. We always recommend applying the 3–2–1 when it comes to backups. Three copies of the backup data, two of which are on different forms of storage media (removable drives, onsite server, etc.), and one located off-site such as a remote server or the cloud.

Be certain to remain in compliance with all applicable privacy laws and other business-specific regulations. If your data is particularly sensitive, look into encryption options and always follow good password practices.

Enact Employee Education

Your employees are an important line of defence when it comes to maintaining a strong cybersecurity plan. Arrange training sessions using your in-house IT team or by inviting outside specialists to come in and work with your staff. Establish training goals and review employee understanding of cybersecurity policies regularly.

When addressing training goals, create a manageable schedule for cybersecurity training and include in your plan a procedure for monitoring employee adherence to your cybersecurity procedures.

Ask the Experts

While your in-house IT experts are a resource you should take full advantage of, it’s not a bad idea to get an outside perspective as well. Consider contracting with an IT managed service provider to conduct a cybersecurity assessment and help you devise and enact successful cybersecurity goals that best fit your business and budget.

If you’re uncertain how to get a cybersecurity plan off the ground, or concerned that your current plan isn’t effective enough, a professional consultant may be the way to go. While you may be concerned with the cost at first, a catastrophic data breach or loss could be even more expensive.

Protect Your Business, Protect Yourself

Keeping business data secure from everything from a cyberattack to a natural disaster or accident should be a priority for every business going forward. A sudden loss of data or a compromising of sensitive customer information could turn into a massive headache and expense for everyone involved.

By enacting a plan and taking action, you can save yourself a lot of trouble down the line, avoid disruption of business, and enhance customer confidence in your business with your serious approach to security.

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