As the newly hired Chief Information Security Officer tasked with the new cybersecurity initiative with a limited budget to implement additional network cybersecurity upgrades and train staff to be vigilant to potential cybersecurity threats, basic cybersecurity awareness training can enable the employees to be the eyes and ears for the Cybersecurity Incident Response Team (CSIRT) to respond to incidents. The remainder of the budget would be upgrading the company’s cybersecurity architecture hardware and software.
Employee Training
Humans are prone to errors the best way to mitigate that is to provide the proper training “Mistakes can cause significant damage to a company’s reputation, bottom line, and future. In fact, 85% of data breaches are caused by human error.” (Tessian Limited, 2023). Preparation is critical in preventing cybersecurity incidents; having the necessary training for employees gives them the knowledge and expertise to be prepared for the next attack. Quarterly training will be conducted to ingratiate constant awareness in employees’ minds. The quarterly training will consist of interactive online courses purchased from a vendor. Phishing emails are the bulk of what the average employee will deal with, and phishing training could prevent a threat actor from being able to steal user credentials. Employees are the first line of defense against all cyber threats.
Cybersecurity Incident Response Team
The new cybersecurity initiative includes hiring a Cyber Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) that handles all cybersecurity incidents by following an Incident Response Plan (IRP) (Matthews, 2022). The CSIRT is crucial to a company’s ability to identify, contain, eradicate, and recover from a cybersecurity incident. The IRP is the plan of action that a CSIRT follows to gain control of a situation spiraling out of control. Cybersecurity incidents are rare, and there is downtime between these incidents to keep the CSIRT from growing complacent tabletop exercises that are good practice and honing the team’s skills. When the unit is not responding to incidents or running drills, they also revise policies and training based on past cybersecurity incidents; this is an integral part of lessons learned. Lessons learned are essential for the CSIRT to learn from previous errors, which can help develop comprehensive tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP). Well-trained employees and a top-notch security team are still prone to human error; this is why we also have cybersecurity hardware and software.
Software and Hardware
Trained employees recognize a phishing email or vishing attempt; they cannot catch the more deliberate and coordinated cyber-attacks on the company’s network; this is where the cybersecurity architecture comes into play. Since architecture exists already, it was assigned the lowest budget. The focus of the initiative is improving what is already in place. A cheaper and more efficient way to upgrade the current hardware is to keep the firmware updated and the software patched to the most recent version. Most of the cybersecurity architecture budget focuses on replacing devices that have reached their end of life, which the vendor no longer supports or updates. The standard of implementing a security patch is within 30 days, but it usually takes a business around 60 to 90 days (N, 2021). This delay is typically due to the nature of a patch being new and the effects of its implementation being unknown.
Conclusion
Employee cyber awareness training and the CSIRT are essential to protecting companies against cybercrime perpetrated by threat actors. Cybersecurity architecture is no less critical than the employees, but it can be an invaluable tool with proper maintenance and updates. The cybersecurity initiative is imperative for the company to adapt and survive today’s cybersecurity threats.
References
Matthews, T. (2022, January 19). The Complete Guide to CSIRT Organization: How to Build an Incident Response Team. From www.exabeam.com: https://www.exabeam.com/incident-response/csirt/
N, A. (2021, September 8). Why Routine Maintenance Is Critical to Maintaining a Healthy, Secure Network. From www.msp360.com: https://www.msp360.com/resources/blog/why-routine-maintenance-is-critical-to-maintaining-healthy-network/#:~:text=Routine%20maintenance%20can%20include%20ensuring,patches%20to%20remediate%20software%20vulnerabilities.
Tessian Limited. (2023). The Psychology of Human Error. From www.tessian.com: https://www.tessian.com/research/the-psychology-of-human-error/