The war scenario in Ukraine and the lightning cyber attacks on several organizations around the world have been consolidating the need to implement a cyber resilience framework to reduce risks and enable the continuity of the digital transformation of companies.

In early 2022, several cyber attacks caught our attention. Prominent companies, such as Samsung, NVidia, Americanas, Submarino, Shoptime, and Mercado Livre, recorded cybersecurity incidents that occurred possibly from ransomware and phishing attacks. 

In addition, we had the declaration of cyber warfare by the group Anonymous against Russia that resulted in the crashing of Russian government websites, news agencies, and Russian companies, as well as leaking bank data and entities such as Roskomnadzor, the federal agency responsible for censoring the country's media.

Indeed, cybersecurity has been one of the most important issues of our time. As noted by Cybersecurity Ventures, damages from cybercrime are predicted to total $6 trillion globally by 2021, and could reach more than $10 trillion by 2025. 

These constant threats could represent the greatest economic wealth transfer in history, with profits greater than the global trade in all major illegal products and drugs combined.

Key steps companies can take to focus on cyber resiliency 

From a global business perspective, three steps are critical for a successful cyber resiliency strategy by companies:

Step 1 - Align your security strategy with business priorities

In practice, this includes regular cyber security vulnerability assessments, focusing on zero risk management and tolerance, using proven security models such as NIST CSF (National Institute of Standards and Technology's Cybersecurity Framework), adopting a zero-trust culture and architecture for cyber protection.

Step 2 - Create a safety culture first

Prioritize training and education, which is especially important with more people working in home office or hybrid mode. This also means embedding security and SecDevOps into your products and services, especially for all your business transformation initiatives.

Step 3 - Understand your attack surface and fix vulnerabilities

Effectively, the attack surface has changed and grown dramatically in the last two years. This risk landscape has been driven primarily by the shift to remote working, the exponential growth of the cloud, and the rise of Internet of Things devices. 

It has become an important practice to review vulnerability assessments in this new light, making the necessary fixes to eliminate any security gaps. In practice, make sure your investments in technology and technological infrastructure take into account the current security landscape and its constant change. 

Maximize protection and effectively reduce the risk of attacks

To deliver the benefits of the protection framework, built through the steps described, companies must focus on implementing the key elements of a modern security approach to maximize protection and minimize risk. 

In summary, these elements are:

• A zero-trust architecture. Starting in the supply chain, embedded at the hardware and firmware levels and in operating systems, platforms and applications, and then built from the data center to the cloud, from the edge to the endpoints.
• A platform that supports and empowers SecDevOps and security engineers. Enabling the organization to incorporate security into every stage of a product's development, deployment, and lifecycle.
• A cyber resiliency platform that incorporates threat intelligence and automation. Aiming to discover and mitigate attacks before they can do damage.
• A delivery model as a service. The goal is to increase speed, agility, and scalability from the edge to the cloud.
• A partner that can provide the technology as well as the ongoing service and knowledge. The primary purpose is to help the organization assess and create a risk profile, fill existing gaps, create a resilient cyber framework, discover and react to new vulnerabilities as the landscape changes.

Each company must do its part to maximize protection and minimize risks

If your customers and employees don't trust their interactions with your organization, it will affect your brand and limit the success and potential of your most important digital business initiatives. 

Talk to an ISH expert to understand how to protect yourself from threats in the face of frequent cyber attacks and threats. Contact us now.