How To Identify and Plug Gaps In Your Cybersecurity Posture
Security risks are always evolving, making it difficult to keep up with the latest threats. This is especially true for small businesses, which often don’t have the resources or staffing to dedicate to a full-time security team. However, it’s essential to regularly review your cybersecurity posture and identify any gaps that could leave you vulnerable to attack.
What is a Cybersecurity Posture?
Cybersecurity posture refers to an organization’s overall defense against cyber-attacks. Your cybersecurity posture encompasses any security policies, employee training programs, or security solutions you have deployed, from malware to anti-virus. It is the collective security status of all software and hardware, services, networks, and information and how secure you are due to those tools and processes.
Understanding your company or organization’s cybersecurity posture is essential to recognize where you stand regarding online security threats such as data breaches and intrusions. By understanding where your organization is most vulnerable, you can establish a plan for creating a more secure environment.
It is important to create a habit of regularly monitoring and maintaining your cybersecurity posture because cybercriminals are constantly finding new ways to take advantage of the weaknesses in a company’s infrastructure. Adopting a more holistic approach that considers existing policies or systems, risk-analysis programs, workplace culture, and employee education is highly encouraged.
Key steps to help identify gaps in your cybersecurity posture
There are a few key steps you can take to help identify gaps in your cybersecurity posture:
- Know Your Assets
- Understand Your Threats
- Implement Strong Security Controls
- Monitor Your Security Posture
- Update Your Security Posture
Know Your Assets
The first step in identifying gaps in your cybersecurity posture is to inventory all of your assets. This includes everything from computers and servers to software and data. Once you know what assets you have, you can assess which ones are most critical to your business and need the strongest protection.
IT assets have a finite life span. Therefore, you must regularly review and update your asset inventory to keep your security posture up-to-date. This will help you identify any new assets that need to be protected and old ones that can be retired.
Understand Your Threats
The next step is to understand the threats that could target your assets. There are many types of cyber threats, so it’s important to research the ones most relevant to your industry and business. Once you know what threats you’re up against, you can start to identify any gaps in your current security posture.
Some common cyber threats include:
- Malware
- Phishing attacks
- SQL injection
- Denial of service attacks
- Data breaches
Implement Strong Security Controls
Once you know what assets you have and what threats they’re up against, you can start to implement strong security controls. This includes both physical and logical security measures. Physical security measures help to protect your assets from attack, while logical security measures help to detect and respond to attacks.
Strong security controls can help to close any gaps in your cybersecurity posture. However, it’s important to regularly review and update your controls to ensure they’re still effective.
Monitor Your Security Posture
The next step is continuously monitoring your security posture for changes or new threats. This can be done manually or through automated tools like security information and event management (SIEM) systems.
Monitoring your security posture helps you identify any gaps that may have opened up. It also allows you to quickly respond to any changes in the security landscape which could impact your business.
Update Your Security Posture
Finally, it’s important to regularly update your security posture in line with any changes in your assets or threats. This includes updating your asset inventory, security controls, and monitoring tools. By keeping your security posture up-to-date, you can help to ensure that your business is protected against the latest threats.
10 Common Cybersecurity Gaps that leave organizations vulnerable:
- Lack of Security Awareness Training
- Inadequate Cybersecurity Policies and Procedures
- Unpatched Software and Operating Systems
- Weak and Reused Passwords
- Lack of Multi-Factor Authentication
- Poorly Configured Firewalls
- Unsecured Wireless Networks
- Unencrypted Data
- Lack of Backup and Disaster Recovery Plans
- No Security Monitoring and Reporting
Lack of Security Awareness Training
One of the most common cybersecurity gaps is a lack of security awareness training. All employees should be trained to identify and report potential security threats. Furthermore, they should also be aware of the importance of following security policies and procedures. Without security awareness training, employees are more likely to put your organization at risk unknowingly.
Inadequate Cybersecurity Policies and Procedures
Another common gap is inadequate cybersecurity policies and procedures. Organizations should have a clear and comprehensive security policy in place that covers all aspects of cybersecurity. Furthermore, all employees should be aware of and understand these policies. Without adequate policies and procedures, your organization will be more vulnerable to attack.
Unpatched Software and Operating Systems
One of the most common vulnerabilities is unpatched software and operating systems. It’s inevitable that every software will have some bugs. Once a program is released, the software company works on fixing these holes (or they should be). Updates with these changes should be available frequently.
Ensuring that all software and operating systems are kept up-to-date with the latest security patches is critical to protect your organization. Without these patches, your systems will be more vulnerable to attack.
Weak and Reused Passwords
Another common cybersecurity gap is the use of weak or reused passwords. Hackers can easily guess weak passwords or use brute force attacks to crack them. Reusing passwords across multiple accounts also increases the risk of hacked accounts.
To protect your organization, it’s important to use strong and unique passwords for all accounts. Employees should also be encouraged to use a password manager to help them keep track of their passwords.
Lack of Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an important security measure that adds an extra layer of protection to accounts. However, many organizations still don’t use MFA. This leaves them vulnerable to attack if a hacker obtains a user’s password.
To protect your organization, enabling MFA for all accounts is important. This will help to prevent unauthorized access even if passwords are compromised.
Poorly Configured Firewalls
Another common gap is poorly configured firewalls. Firewalls are designed to protect networks from external threats. However, if they’re not properly configured, they can actually leave your organization more vulnerable to attack.
To ensure your organization is properly protected, it’s important to configure firewalls correctly. This includes setting up rules to block or allow specific traffic types and ensuring that the firewall is always up-to-date.
Unsecured Wireless Networks
Wireless networks are another common vulnerability. If these networks are not properly secured, hackers can easily access them. This gives them a way into your network and allows them to snoop on traffic or launch attacks.
To protect your organization, it’s important to secure all wireless networks. This includes using strong encryption like WPA2 and disabling features like WPS.
Unencrypted Data
One of the most serious cybersecurity gaps is unencrypted data. This leaves your organization vulnerable to attack if hackers can access your systems. Furthermore, it also puts you at risk of data breaches.
To protect your organization, it’s important to encrypt all data. This includes both storage and transmission. You should also consider using encryption for email and other sensitive communications.
Lack of Backup and Disaster Recovery
Another common cybersecurity gap is the lack of backup and disaster recovery. This leaves your organization at risk of data loss if systems are breached or destroyed.
To protect your organization, it’s important to have a robust backup and disaster recovery plan in place. This should include regular backups, offsite storage, and tested restoration procedures.
No Security Monitoring and Reporting
Security monitoring and reporting are critical for detecting and responding to attacks. However, many organizations don’t have these processes in place. This leaves them vulnerable to attack and makes it more difficult to recover from an incident.
To protect your organization, it’s important to implement security monitoring and reporting. This includes setting up intrusion detection systems, creating incident response plans, and training employees on responding to security threats.
Conclusion:
Organizations face many cybersecurity risks. To protect themselves, it’s important to identify and address common gaps in their defenses. This includes using strong passwords, enabling multi-factor authentication, properly configuring firewalls, securing wireless networks, encrypting data, and having a robust backup and disaster recovery plan. Security monitoring and reporting are also critical for detecting and responding to attacks. By taking these steps, organizations can help to protect themselves from the ever-growing threat of cyberattacks.
