The year 2021 was overwhelming for cybersecurity. In this period alone, the average total global cost of a ransomware breach was $4.62 million according to IBM studies, and this trend will continue in the coming years. 

To get an idea of the severity of the growth of cyberattacks, by 2025, cyber attackers will have operational technology environments armed to successfully harm or kill humans, according to Gartner.

The pandemic-induced exodus away from real-life interactions and into their digital counterparts has increased the surface area for problems by several orders of magnitude. 

As a result, in terms of cybersecurity, high-profile data breaches have disrupted the public and private sectors, ransomware demands have reached new heights, and security incidents have reinforced the need for access control and the ongoing protection of data and people.

As we start the year 2022, we've already had good reason to understand that cybersecurity remains a high priority. In its June 2022 semi-annual report, ISH mentioned some of the most common vulnerabilities that occurred during the period, and we can understand that with the growing number of online transactions and the rise of the connected world, businesses need to take steps to increasingly protect their data, networks, and most importantly, customers from cybercriminals and cyberattacks. 

In this article, we will discuss how CXOs, crucial leaders for enterprises' security strategies, can strengthen their businesses and avoid and combat the risks of cyber attacks in 2022.

The Role of CXOs in Business Protection

Chief Experience Officer (CXO), is a new C that reinforces the company's C-Level team in the so-called "Experience Era". This is a significant position for the future of the relationships between the corporate market and the final consumer, focused on adding product and business value in the customer experience.

In a company's cybersecurity strategy, CXOs play a central role. They need to think about customer and company security, ensure that data is protected, monitor online activity effectively, and assess risk through a business lens, establishing a culture of protection throughout the organization.

Ransomware-type attacks cost companies that choose to pay the ransom an average of US$570,000. When considering the total impact of this type of attack, the volume is even higher, according to studies already conducted: US$800,000, approximately R$4 million. 

These are losses accounted for considering IT environment downtime, backup restoration, hiring agents for remediation, among other problems that directly affect CXOs and other managers in the organization.

To ensure the cybersecurity of the enterprise, CXOs need to:

1. Protect company data

Data is a business's most precious asset. It must be protected from unauthorized access, loss, or theft. To protect data, companies must implement effective security measures:

• Physical security policy to protect data in physical storage, such as notebooks, hard drives, and backups.
• Adopt privilege management best practices, which include assigning role-based permissions and constantly watching over the use of those permissions.
• Change password usage policies, requiring them to be complex, as well as reducing the interval required for their change.

2. Monitor online activities

To ensure cybersecurity, companies need to monitor online activities. In practical actions, this means:

• Monitor network traffic to identify suspicious activity.
• Analyze application accesses to identify intrusion attempts.
• Examine stored data to ensure that only authorized users can access and change the data.

As a result, monitoring enables companies to identify and investigate anomalies and unauthorized access attempts.

3. Assessing cyber risks through a business lens

CXOs need to evaluate cyber risks through a business lens. This means they need to understand how cyber risks can affect the enterprise.

Cyber attacks usually result in substantial financial loss arising from:

• Theft of corporate and financial information (e.g. bank details or payment card details).
• Embezzlement or payment of large sums.
• Interruption in doing business (e.g., inability to conduct online transactions).
• Reputational damage, impacting on lost customers, sales, and reduced profits.

4. Establish a cyber security culture

This means that cybersecurity must be considered in all company decisions. In addition, the culture of cybersecurity must be established by CXOs and must be implemented throughout the organization.

• Integrating cybersecurity into company decisions, from strategic planning to daily operational actions.
• Training and making employees aware of cyber risks and how to protect themselves.
• Spreading a culture of cybersecurity throughout the company, including partners and suppliers.
• Defining and documenting cybersecurity processes to ensure that all employees are aware of the security measures to be taken.

5. Encourage the use of available cybersecurity best practices

CXOs should encourage the use of available cybersecurity best practices, which can be divided into three categories:

• Prevention: such as deploying a firewall to prevent an attack.
• Detection: such as monitoring network traffic to detect an ongoing cyber attack.
• Response: the measures taken to respond to a cyber attack, such as data backup and business continuity.

Enterprises must adopt cybersecurity best practices to ensure protection from existing risks. However, it is important to note that these practices are constantly evolving, so CXOs need to be aware of new threats and measures for prevention, detection and response.

In summary, to combat cybersecurity risks beyond 2022, CXOs need to be aware of new threats and trends. They also need to establish an action plan that includes measures to prevent, detect and respond to cyber attacks.

By being proactive and taking these precautions, companies can protect their data and customers by seeking to ensure, as best they can, that they are not susceptible to cyber attacks and that there are effective countermeasures in place should they occur.

Talk to one of ISH 's experts and learn how to keep your company protected.