10 Strategies for Cybersecurity Risk Mitigation

Data breaches are becoming more common with time. There was a 300% increase in cybercrimes in 2020. Most people are working from their homes now. Thus, attackers find it easy to target businesses now. Attackers are also using complicated techniques for attacking businesses. IoT devices are also becoming more popular with time. Most businesses are using it for increasing their employee productivity. However, these devices are very easy to hack. Ransomware attacks are also increasing with time. Attackers are using cryptocurrencies for ransom payments. Hackers are also moving to the cloud now. They are trying to blend with legit cloud services.

These trends clearly state that companies need to invest in effective cybersecurity risk mitigation. If you don’t have a good risk mitigation strategy, then attackers will easily hack into your systems. In this article, we are going to share the best Cybersecurity risk mitigation strategies that you can use.

Cost of Cyberattack

The damage of a cyber attack will depend on your business. If your business is resilient enough, then you can reduce the damage. A good cybersecurity strategy can also help you in reducing the damage of cyberattacks. According to a report from the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a cyber attack is $5 million. You can lose about $300 per employee. However, this is not the true cost of a cyber attack. The cyberattack will also affect your business reputation. Some of the indirect costs of a data breach are:

• Data loss: More than 3 billion records were stolen last year. The loss of this data can increase your bills. You will invest money into data recovery. Also, you need to pay potential fines and penalties.
• Investor perception: Your company’s value will drop after a data breach. Negative media will impact your business value. If you have a large organization, then you might lose millions of dollars due to this. This is also applicable to smaller businesses. Most SMBs don’t have enough infrastructure to deal with negative media.
• Operational costs: Sometimes attackers will try to shut down your online operations. They will use DDoS attacks for attacking your servers. This will lead to customer loss. Your customers will move to other platforms as your services are down.
• Reputation: You will lose your loyal customers due to the attack. It will also become difficult to attract new customers. Your brand image is linked with your entire business. More than 85% of US customers are loyal to companies that protect their data. If you can protect your business from data breaches, then your customers will mostly stay with you.

Cybersecurity Risk Mitigation

You can use various security processes and policies to reduce the impact of IT security threats. The entire strategy can be divided into three main parts: prevention, detection, and rectification. Attackers are using more complicated with time. Thus, you need to upgrade your Cybersecurity risk mitigation strategies. You should ensure that your strategies can actually protect your business.

Best Cybersecurity Risk mitigation strategies

If you want to protect your business from attackers, then you need to opt for proactive cybersecurity risk mitigation. You can use these strategies for protecting your IT ecosystem:

1. Conduct a risk assessment

A risk assessment will help you in finding potential gaps in your security controls. You can find the assets that you need to protect. It will also help you in finding the security controls that you are currently using. A risk assessment will also help you in finding vulnerabilities present in your network. Attackers can exploit these vulnerabilities by stealing data from your network.

You can also prioritize these vulnerabilities. Your IT security team should first focus on fixing important and common vulnerabilities. If common vulnerabilities are present in your network, then even a small group of hackers can take down your network. Thus, you should fix simple and common vulnerabilities first. After that, you should focus on fixing other complex vulnerabilities.

2. Use network access controls

A risk assessment will help you in assessing your assets. It will help you in finding high-priority problems and vulnerabilities. The next step is to focus on establishing network access controls. These access controls will help you in dealing with insider threats. Insider threats are a big problem for organizations. Sometimes your employees can accidentally leak your data.

Most organizations are shifting towards a zero-trust architecture for solving this problem. This architecture will assess trust according to your employee’s needs. Your employees will get access to the data and systems that they need for completing their work. All the other systems and data will be hidden from them. This will ensure that attackers can’t use your employee account for stealing data from your organization.

It will help you in minimizing the impact of attacks that can occur due to your employee mistakes. The number of endpoint devices is also increasing. This is mostly due to the rise of IoT devices. Your employees can connect their personal or IoT devices with your network. These devices will act as an endpoint. Thus, you should also focus on implementing endpoint security.

3. Implement firewall and other security solutions

This is another very important step. A firewall can help you in stopping most cyber attacks. It won’t help you in stopping all the attacks but still, it is very important for your network. The firewall will act as an additional barrier between your network and devices. A firewall is like a buffer between your network and the outside network. It will give greater control to your organization. You can easily block outgoing and incoming traffic. If someone is sending malicious data to your network, then the data packets will get blocked. This is very important as it can help you in stopping many attacks.

Antivirus software is also important for your devices. It can help you in finding viruses in your employee computer. If your employees are using mobile devices, then you should install antivirus software on their mobile devices. Your IT team should ensure that all the security solutions are updated.

4. Work on a patch management schedule

Almost every software provider will release security patches consistently. Attackers also know about these security patches. They will check the vulnerability that was fixed in the latest patch. After that, they will try to replicate the same vulnerability. Attackers will try to exploit the same vulnerability. Thus, you should quickly update your software and tools. Organizations should use a patch management schedule for solving this problem. Make sure that your IT security team is regularly checking for updates. You can automate this process. Automation tools will help you in updating all your software.

5. Create an Incident response plan

You should ensure that both your non-technical employee and IT security team understand that they will be responsible in case of a data breach. This will help you in simplifying your incident response plan. Your employees will understand their roles and responsibilities.

An incident response plan will help you in dealing with cyber attacks. It is the most important component of cybersecurity risk mitigation strategy. Threats can come in any shape and size. Thus, you can’t protect your business from every cyber threat. An IRP will help you in minimizing the damage of a cyber attack. You should ensure that your employees are ready for a data breach. They should follow your incident response plan for minimizing the effect of a data breach.

6. Monitor network traffic

The best way to protect your business is by proactively monitoring network traffic. More than 2000 attacks happen every day. The only way to protect your organization is by continuously monitoring your network traffic. You should also continuously monitor your cybersecurity posture.

There are various tools available in the market that will help you in enabling real-time threat detection. These tools will help you in checking your network in real-time. Your IT security team can use these tools for identifying new threats. It will help your IT security team in finding the best path to remediation.

You can also work with a good MSP for solving this problem. Experienced MSPs like Bleuwire will help you in regularly monitoring your network. They will make sure that your network is protected from attackers. If they think that some attackers are in your network, then they will quickly take steps to protect your network.

7. Train your employees

The best way to protect your business is by training your employees. You should ensure that your employees know about basic cybersecurity practices. This will help you in protecting your business from simple attacks like social engineering and phishing attacks. Most attackers will use social engineering attacks for sending malicious payloads to your network. You can avoid this by giving proper training to your employees.

Your employees should know how to identify a phishing email. You should also provide a direct communication channel to your IT security team. In case of a phishing attack, your employees can directly tell your IT security team. Your IT security team can immediately take steps to protect your business.

8. Use Multi-factor authentication

More than 85% of data breaches occur due to stolen or weak credentials. If your employees are using simple passwords for accessing your network, then even a kid can hack into your network. The best way to solve this issue is by using Multi-factor authentication. MFA will ensure that attackers can’t access your network even after stealing your employee password. They need to prove their identity before they can access your network. Multi-factor authentication can help you in avoiding data breaches. You don’t need to worry about poor password management if you are using MFA.

9. Data encryption

Data encryption is one of the cheapest and simplest cyber hygiene practices. Thanks to technological development, encryption has become inexpensive with time. Even SMBs can encrypt their data. You don’t need access to large systems for encrypting your data.

Encryption will also provide regulatory protection to your business. This is very important if you are operating in a heavily regulated industry. Healthcare companies need to follow strict HIPAA compliance. Similarly, finance companies need to follow PCI DSS compliance. Data encryption policies are essential in these compliances. You can save a lot of penalties by encrypting your data. Data encryption will also help you in protecting your data. In case of a data breach, attackers can’t access your data as it is encrypted.

10. Maintain an inventory

Data breaches can be bad for your business. You can lose access to important data and information. Ransomware attacks can lock your devices. The only way to recover your data is by paying money to the attackers. Attackers can also delete your data even after getting the ransom. They can sell your database on the dark web for money. Thus, there is no guarantee that you will get your data back.

You can avoid this problem by maintaining an inventory. It will protect the data from attackers and threats. In case of a data breach, you can access your inventory and recover your data. This is the main advantage of maintaining an inventory. It will protect you from data breaches.

How Bleuwire can help your business?

Bleuwire has access to the best IT security professionals. They will help you in creating a perfect cybersecurity mitigation strategy for your business. Bleuwire will also regularly monitor your network. This will ensure that attackers can’t propagate in your network. Bleuwire will help you in performing an IT risk assessment. This report will help you in prioritizing your cybersecurity efforts. You don’t need to worry about hiring your in-house IT security team. Bleuwire will help you in handling all the issues related to IT security. If you need more information regarding IT security services, then you can contact Bleuwire.

Contact us today to learn about Bleuwire™  services and solutions in how we can help your business.