OpenSight Summer Series: A comprehensive guide to 10 essential cyber security measures
Cyber security is an essential part of the activities within any modern organization. It’s fundamental to have an extensive cybersecurity plan at your disposal in order to protect your organisation against financial and reputational damage caused by cyberattacks or data leaks. In this blog you’ll learn more about the ten essential steps for cybersecurity for organizations.
During the OpenSight Summer Series, we will publish weekly blogs that elaborate on the following topics:
- Risk management
- Engagement and training
- Asset management
- Architecture and configuration
- Vulnerability management
- Identity and access management
- Information security
- Logging and monitoring
- Incident management
- Supply chain security
By implementing the security measures outlined in these 10 steps, organizations can reduce the likelihood of cyberattacks and reduce the impact of potential incidents.
- Risk management
The first step in developing a robust cybersecurity plan is to identify and assess potential risks to your organization. This includes conducting a comprehensive risk assessment that identifies the different types of risks facing the organization, including external and internal threats. The risk assessment should prioritize risks based on their potential impact on the organization, the likelihood of their occurrence, and controls already in place to reduce these risks. - Engagement and training
Cyber security is a collective responsibility, and every employee must be aware of the importance of cybersecurity and their role in protecting the organization. Therefore, regular engagement and training sessions should be held to educate employees on the latest cybersecurity threats, best practices for safe online behaviour and how to recognize and report potential security incidents. - Asset management
A crucial part of cyber security is asset management. This is all about identifying all the assets of an organization and analysing their value. This includes hardware software and data. Once assets are identified, the organization can take measures to protect them, such as access control, monitoring, and encryption. - Architecture and configuration
A robust cyber security plan requires architecture designed with safety in mind. This includes implementing a secure network architecture and secure configuration management that restricts access to sensitive information and checks user rights. This also includes the implementation of firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems and other security measures to protect the network. - Vulnerability management
Vulnerability management is the identification and addressing of vulnerabilities within systems, applications, and networks of the organization. This includes regularly scanning for vulnerabilities, assessing the risk of each vulnerability, and taking action to mitigate the risks. - Identity and access management (IAM)
In the world of cybersecurity, Identity and Access Management (IAM), is a critical component. IAM includes managing user identities and controlling access to systems and data. It provides solutions for user authentication, authorization, and access control mechanisms to ensure that only authorized users have access to sensitive information. - Information security
Information security is the protection of sensitive information against unauthorized access, theft and destruction. for example, implementing data encryption, access controls and control measures to prevent data breaches and cyber attacks. - Logging and monitoring
Logging and monitoring are essential for detecting potential security incidents and cyber attacks. This includes collecting and analysing system and network logs, monitoring user activity and setting up automatic alerts to notify security personnel of potential threats. - Incident management
Incident management means having a plan in place to respond to security incidents and cyber attacks. Such as assembling a response team, defining roles and responsibilities, and establishing communication protocols to ensure an effective response to security incidents. - Supply chain security
Supply chain security is essential for organizations that rely on external sellers and suppliers. It implies that security measures should be taken to ensure that all suppliers and sellers follow the same security standards and have adequate security measures in place to protect sensitive information.
In short, an extensive cyber security plan is critical for any organization seeking to protect its data, reputation, and finances. The ten topics discussed in this blog provide a comprehensive framework for developing an extensive cyber security plan that can effectively protect an organization from cyber attacks. In the coming weeks, we will explore each of these topics in more detail.
Want to learn more in advance? Contact one of our experts!
