Layering Cyber Resilience Over Cybersecurity for Optimum Network Security

Sadly, not all businesses come back from a cybersecurity attack.

The rate of business failure after a cyber hack increases inversely to the size of the business. Thus, SMEs are on the receiving end of not getting back to their feet after a cyber-attack, most of the time.

This shows that there is more to dealing with a cyber-attack than implementing cybersecurity measures. There has to be a touch of cyber resilience in there for an overall feel also.

Cybersecurity vs. Cyber Resilience

These two concepts are directed at keeping a company safe in an attack. But, they take two different approaches to it.

Cybersecurity, on its end, focuses on preventing the hack/ breach from happening in the first place. A lot has already been saying on cybersecurity for both brands and individuals, so much that we will merely be rehashing the topic should we mention it.

The cybersecurity niche is doing well these days. Not only enterprise users know the importance of their data and what a breach to it could mean. With consumer solutions like a VPN app, anti-malware software, and email scanners enjoying stellar success today, you know that individuals are also taking their security seriously.

For all their good intentions, the internet is at the stage where a cyber-attack is a case of ‘when,’ not ‘if.’. This is where cyber resilience comes into the mix.

In simple terms, cyber resilience is an entity’s ability to prepare against, and recover from, a cyberattack when it happens. It takes into account preventive measures and proper recovery practices so that nothing hits out of the blue. While not hoping for a breach to happen, there are systems in place to mitigate the attack and get right back on track before any extensive damage can be done.

It explains why we hear about big companies falling to data breaches these days, but things go on as usual.

Where Cyber Resilience Becomes Important?

There was a time when all the attacks that a company had to worry about borders on password hacks.

To combat this was to sensitize the staff members, especially those with access to sensitive files, about good password ethics.

Hackers would soon grow their game to the extent they deploy other software pieces to do the job for them. That gave rise to all of the viruses, trojans, worms, and other forms of malware.

As security companies develop tools and solutions against this malware, the hackers find another loophole to exploit.

A popular gag in the cybersecurity world is that a hole is only patched after being found. Thus, someone has to fall victim to before a fix is issued. How many times will we have to subscribe to this model?

It is no longer enough to do all you can against cyber threats and sit back, hoping that you have done enough. Often, it is the smallest things that show you out at the end of the day. Thus, it is much better to do all you can to prevent the attacks while still being prepared enough to take on an episode.

In the latter scenario, you are not caught off guard. There is already a game plan to follow in the case of a breach, limiting your exposure and ensuring the business can continue as usual without much downtime.

A Solid Cyber Resilience Framework

Most of the requirements of an excellent cyber resilience plan are just common sense. Deployed right, everyone can get on board fast and become familiar with what they have to do at every point. We have distilled some of the essential parts of a cyber resilience framework into the points below:

1. Identification

Not every file you have will look attractive to hackers. Thus, the first step of an excellent cyber resilience program is to know what files are the most sensitive. That way, you can quickly assess the level of damage from any hack and cut off systems when they are about to be too compromised.

2. Monitoring

Set up continuous monitoring of your system for cyber-attacks.

This is different from cybersecurity, which only sets up measures against the attacks. This time, you are actively looking for signs of forced entry, breaches, and backdoor access to your networks and systems. If possible, contact a third-party security company to do a routine check of your systems for anomalies you might have missed internally.

3. Respond

Your response plan is in two ways.

If you don’t find anything to suggest a hack, that does not mean your cybersecurity plan is top-notch. It might just be that a hacker hasn’t had the time to probe your systems yet, or they haven’t found flaws. Still check for defects and patch them.

In this case, you find any signs of a breach, put together an incident report, and respond to the hack immediately.