The world is getting more and more digitalized with each passing day, which is why businesses need to have an online presence which lets them reach their target audiences efficiently.
More and more businesses are working hard to improve their online presence and to provide additional features and experiences for a competitive advantage. An efficient online presence today, lets companies portray a better brand presence and value among their target market.
With the advantages of an online presence, there also comes online threats. Online hackers and scammers are very likely to sneak into your businesses’ digital assets. But what measures can be taken to protect the business from cyber threats and why is worth consider hiring cybersecurity personnel?
What Cybersecurity Measures Should Be Considered?
To protect your business from online threats, it is essential for you to take cybersecurity measures. You can defend your computers, electronic systems, data, networks, servers and mobile devices from scammers and malicious attackers.
Cybersecurity has many categories including:
1. Application security
This is an era of mobile applications, however, an unprotected app could let anyone access the data which should remain protected. Therefore, application security is an essential as it keeps the devices and software free of such threats.
Security measures should be taken when the application is in the design stage, even before a device or program is deployed.
2. Information security
The privacy and integrity of your data are very important. Whether it’s in transit or in storage which is why information security is a must for every business.
3. Network security
Through a secure network, you can defend yourself from all kinds of intruders, including opportunistic malware and targeted attackers.
4. Operational security
Operational security comprises decisions and processes for protecting and handling data assets. It includes the permissions users will be asked for to access a network and the processes that would tell where and how the data will be shared or stored.
5. Disaster recovery and business continuity
Business continuity and disaster recovery explain how a business responds to an online security incident or other attacks that would cause a loss of data or operations. As the name suggests, business continuity comprises of the plan a business will fall back on in case it loses certain resources.
Whereas, effective disaster recovery policies would dictate how a business will restore its information and operations in order to come back to the same operating capacity. Both disaster recovery and business continuity are very important for any business.
6. End-user education
End-user education is one of the most important measures of successful cybersecurity as it addresses the most unforeseeable online security factor which is people.
A virus can be unknowingly introduced by anyone to an otherwise secure system. If users are taught how to delete suspicious email attachments, recognize malicious links, and avoid plugging in unidentified USB drives along with other important lessons then many of your business can be protected from a variety of cyber-attacks.
Why Choose a Cybersecurity Professional?
So far we’ve covered what cybersecurity measures should be considered, and now you may be wondering; who will perform all these security measures for your business?
We thought so.
A cybersecurity professional is going to find vulnerabilities in your system and come up with the best solutions and tools to use to protect your business from cyber attacks.
Managing a business can become very difficult, especially in this digital world. With operations getting online and digitalized, you must know where the vulnerabilities are in your system. This would require your employees to be trained regularly to be aware of the threats and test your system every now and then.
However, it sometimes becomes hard to notice the vulnerabilities, which is why cybersecurity personnel would be a much needed investment. Also, there are plenty of tools available to protect and secure your business, (although not all tools shall be suitable for your nature of business).
In this case, a professional may be able to give you proactive guidance on how to protect your business. A bachelor’s degree in the cybersecurity arena provides the theoretical basis of the principal concepts and later cybersecurity professionals can utilize these concepts in the practical arena.
5 Reasons Businesses Should Consider Hiring A Cybersecurity Professional
Still not sure, why you may need a cybersecurity professional for your business? Here are five reasons why you should consider hiring one:
1. To Safeguard Business Data
Safeguarding confidential business data is one of the biggest concerns of any company or business. In order to make sure your valuable data is safe and protected, you must hire a cybersecurity specialist so that your data and information does not leak out.
A cybersecurity professional monitors the flow of data and maintains the bandwidth usage so that unauthorized users are prevented from accessing valuable data. This can be done from anywhere and does not require an in-house cybersecurity team.
Your customers are your most important assets, and so is their personal information. You must ensure that their personal data is protected and safe which includes bank account details, credit card numbers and home addresses. If you do not protect their information, your business image will be highly dented and liable to failing certain compliance.
Hiring in-house cybersecurity personal is doesn’t have to be costly, you could hire on a contracted hourly basis. This way you will save on the additional costs, but have the personnel on hand to protect your businesses assets.
2. To Help Staff Members
Usually what businesses do is that they outsource cybersecurity and data management services. This is not a very good idea as you may end up facing privacy violations. What happens is that in most instances these contractors turn up to be the main culprits.
In order to avoid such instances, you should consider hiring a full-time cybersecurity professional who will also train other employees to protect and safeguard the software and system when they use it.
Moreover, when you have a cybersecurity team in your company, anyone abusing the office environment would stop and become cautious.
3. To Identify Vulnerabilities in your Network
In order to make your existing network secure, you must be able to identify the vulnerabilities. Thinking like cybercriminals can help you can stay one step ahead of them.
By hiring cybersecurity personnel, they help you modify your online store or website with the use of the latest cybersecurity strategies and tools. A cybersecurity professional will monitor your installed plugins and your website so that your website remains secure.
They’ll process a detailed assessment and find out how the website is flawed and what can be a potential threat to your business. Hiring personnel would minimize any stresses related to cyber threats as network audits would be performed regularly to help in finding out any flaw that would pose a security threat to your business.
4. To Prevent Financial Loss
Cyber-attacks may cause severe financial losses to a business. Businesses lose millions of customers due to cyber-attacks, which is why as a business you must invest in an expert cybersecurity specialist.
As a business, you may have the personal information of your customers like bank account numbers, credit card numbers, addresses etc. Cybercriminals target businesses that have such important data and steal it to gain thousands of dollars.
In order to protect your business and your customers’ loyalty towards your business, hiring a cybersecurity professional could save the business from a huge financial loss.
5. To Improve Business Functions
Hiring cybersecurity personnel will improve your business functions in unexpected ways. Businesses are unable to manage a huge chunk of data when it is in a growing stage, and because of this cybercriminals take advantage.
A cybersecurity specialist would make sure your business’ sensitive information is protected effectively. When your valuable data is taken care of, you will be able to focus more on other areas like company profitability, marketing and effective management.
Companies that do not have a cybersecurity personnel, are distracted by cybersecurity issues and can restrict them from achieving their business goals.
Conclusion
With the constant upgrades of technology and development in the world, businesses need to have an online presence in order to thrive. Cybercriminals make it difficult for businesses to keep their data protected, which is why they need to hire cybersecurity personnel.
Maintaining security protocols and managing the data on your own can become very difficult for a business, which is why it is wiser to invest in a cybersecurity specialist and allow them the responsibility of data protection and online security.
It is not necessary that you hire someone in-house, you can always consider hiring a cybersecurity specialist who works from home or remotely.
Note: This blog article was written by a guest contributor for the purpose of offering a wider variety of content for our readers. The opinions expressed in this guest author article are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect those of GlobalSign.
