Amid the ever-changing cyber threat landscape, businesses must adapt and reinforce their cybersecurity strategies. While technological advancements have granted us access to unprecedented amounts of data, this convenience also exposes us to heightened risks of cyberattacks and security breaches. Let us delve into the significant cybersecurity trends that will shape the landscape in 2023 and beyond.

Importance of Cybersecurity for Businesses

Before delving into the specific trends that are shaping the cybersecurity landscape, it is of utmost importance to fully grasp the significance of cybersecurity for businesses in today’s digital age. A single cyberattack can unleash a torrent of devastating consequences, ranging from severe financial losses to irreparable reputational damage and even potential legal repercussions. To safeguard against such dire outcomes, companies must proactively invest in comprehensive and robust cybersecurity measures. These proactive measures serve as a protective shield, ensuring the safety and integrity of sensitive data, customer information, and valuable intellectual property and preventing them from falling into the hands of malicious actors with nefarious intent.

Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS): A Growing Threat

Ransomware attacks have seen a significant surge in recent years, where cybercriminals encrypt a victim’s data and demand a ransom for its release. In 2023, we can expect the emergence of Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) platforms, making it easier for cybercriminals to launch ransomware attacks. To counter RaaS threats, companies must adopt good cyber hygiene practises and create a robust security strategy.

AI-Powered Attacks: Outsmarting Traditional Security Measures

Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed the game for both individuals and organisations. Regrettably, fraudsters are also using AI to create increasingly complex assaults. Attacks driven by AI that eschew conventional security measures are predicted to increase in 2023. AI has the ability to construct malware that can change how it behaves to avoid detection by security tools and produce convincing phishing emails. To effectively prevent such attacks, businesses must maintain vigilance and implement AI-enabled threat detection systems.

Supply Chain Attacks: Targeting the Weakest Link

With businesses relying on a network of suppliers and partners, the risk of supply chain attacks increases. Cybercriminals target third-party vendors and service providers to gain access to their customer’s systems and data. In 2023, we can expect more supply chain attacks as cybercriminals seek to exploit the weakest link in an organization’s security chain. To mitigate this risk, companies must assess the security posture of their vendors and partners and implement robust security measures throughout the supply chain.

Application Security: Safeguarding Software and Data

The shift of businesses online has highlighted the importance of application security. Every application is susceptible to hacking, zero-day attacks, and identity theft. Ensuring application security demands professionals write secure code, design secure application architecture, implement robust data entry verification, and promptly address vulnerabilities to prevent unauthorised access or modification of application resources.

Cloud Security: Securing Data in the Cloud

Cloud solutions have witnessed a significant increase in demand, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak. While cloud data storage offers convenience and faster accessibility, it also brings the need to secure data during transmission and storage. Companies must implement robust cloud security measures to prevent unauthorised access to sensitive data.

Mobile Security: Protecting Devices on the Go

With the increasing reliance on mobile devices, they have become potential targets for cyberattacks. Cybercriminals exploit opportunities in e-commerce, banking services, and online booking, making mobile phones a prime target. Companies must focus on enhancing mobile security to safeguard sensitive data stored on these devices.

Internet of Things (IoT) Security: Securing Smart Devices

The proliferation of IoT devices in homes and businesses has introduced new cybersecurity challenges. Smart devices, homes, and voice assistants have become integral to our lives, but each device can be hacked and taken over by a cybercriminal. As the number of connected devices increases, so does the potential attack surface. Strengthening IoT security is vital to prevent unauthorised access to these devices.

Identity Fabric Immunity: Strengthening Identity Systems

Identity fabric immunity applies the concept of digital immune systems to identity systems. By investing in prevention, detection, and response, companies can minimise defects and failures, ensuring protection before and during attacks. Strengthening identity systems is crucial to thwarting identity-related cyber threats effectively.

Human-Centric Security Design: Educating Employees for Better Security

Employees play a pivotal role in an organization’s cybersecurity defences. Human-centric security design emphasises the importance of educating employees about cybersecurity best practises. By raising awareness about potential threats and implementing security training programmes, companies can create a security-aware workforce.

Enhancing People Management in Organisations A Crucial Aspect of Cybersecurity

A successful people management strategy is crucial for a strong cybersecurity programme. Employing cybersecurity specialists must be a top priority for businesses, as must funding their ongoing education and advancement. For the overall security posture, it is also critical to give staff the tools and resources they need to stay current on cybersecurity developments.

Conclusion

As cyber threats continue to evolve, businesses must stay one step ahead to protect their sensitive data and assets. The cybersecurity trends discussed in this article are vital for organisations to enhance their security measures and safeguard their digital ecosystem. By adopting a proactive and comprehensive approach to cybersecurity, businesses can mitigate risks and build a resilient defence against cyberattacks.

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Managing all aspects of your business yourself is convenient, but not easy. You’re your own marketer, sales rep, relationship manager and IT support all in one. This is especially important when problems start to arise.

Why cybersecurity is important for small businesses

Earning customer loyalty and trust is an important factor in growing your business. As a sole proprietor, you are responsible for keeping all of the files, materials and contracts that come into your possession while you work. In addition, your work documents are probably almost entirely online and on computer.

What happens if someone unauthorized accesses it or you are subjected to a cyberattack?

There are many cybersecurity threats that can ruin your life: viruses, malware, blackmail software attacks, phishing attacks.
“It will never happen to us, we’re too small a company!”

The conventional wisdom is that only large companies are of interest to hackers, but small businesses are targeted more often than you think. According to Verizon’s 2021 Data Breach Report, 56% of cyberattacks target small business organizations.

When you think about it, that’s not surprising. Large businesses tend to have the resources and means to invest in high-quality cybersecurity solutions and strategies. They likely have employees dedicated to detecting DDOS attacks, malware, phishing attacks and the like. But if you have a small company, there is usually only one person responsible for all that. But if you are a self-employed person, you have to deal with these things. That’s why you need to implement cybersecurity strategies to protect your business and customer data.

What is a cybersecurity strategy?

Cybersecurity strategies are steps you can take to protect your business assets and minimize cyber risks. They can range from simple actions, such as periodic password changes, to regular backups of work materials.

In fact, one does not preclude the other, as every small business needs a different approach to cyber strategy. Nevertheless, sole proprietors should pay attention to the following cybersecurity strategies.

Install regular updates

Simple but effective. It’s easy to overlook this aspect when developing cybersecurity strategies, but it’s more important than most people think.

Most hackers and cybercriminals take advantage of this opportunity. They exploit web vulnerabilities, of which there are many. To combat this, install only reliable software with strong security features. Your software provider should release regular updates to protect their customers from cyberattacks. All you have to do is install these updates.

Don’t put off installing software and hardware updates because you don’t want to reboot your computer. Instead, make checking for them part of your workflow. Start with a weekly reminder to do this. If you have employees, institute rules for installing updates. When everyone complies with cybersecurity measures, the likelihood of breaches is greatly reduced.

Check your Wi-Fi settings

No matter how robust the software is installed on your computer, if you use the Internet for work, you need to take care of network security.

First of all, change your default router name to avoid attracting the attention of potential hackers. A wireless network identifier (SSID) such as “Axz3de” may seem difficult to recognize, but all routers from the same manufacturer use the same identifier by default. This means that if attackers were able to access one of them, they can access all the others as well.

Then set a unique, strong password. The password should be changed every 3 months, so if it’s fall and you haven’t changed it since summer, it’s probably time to change it.

Turn on network encryption, such as WPA2. This feature is usually disabled by default, but you can enable it in your router’s security settings.

Prevent your network name from being displayed to outsiders. This can also be done in your router’s wireless network settings.

Install firmware updates regularly to keep your router software up to date.

We recommend using two-factor authentication (2FA) to verify users when they enter your network.

In addition to those listed above, there are other ways to further protect your network.

Use VPNs and firewalls if necessary

Firewalls have been around since the advent of the Internet, and for good reason: they’re effective. Installing a firewall to control network traffic helps protect your computer and prevent data leaks. Unwanted incoming network traffic and malware are blocked automatically, and most of the time you won’t even know the firewall is doing its job.

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a new tool in the small business arsenal. A VPN is used to create a secure, encrypted connection to the Internet. This is very useful if you work remotely, as it provides secure communication between team members. However, not every small business needs a VPN. If you work remotely but share files that aren’t private, you probably don’t need this technology.

Secure your cloud data

There are a variety of different types of cloud services:

• Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), such as Amazon Web Services (AWS);
• Platform as a Service (PaaS), such as Microsoft Azure;
• Software as a Service (SaaS), e.g., Dropbox.

Using cloud services of any type helps make workflows more flexible and adaptive. However, you need to make sure that all necessary measures are in place to protect your data.

For example, hackers hacked into an important customer’s email. In that case, they could have accessed all of the files and folders you worked on together, including personal client data.

Fortunately, you’ve set up password protection for all files and folders shared. By changing passwords quickly, you will prevent the hacker from continuing the attack.
Set permissions for shared documents

Secure cloud storage is the perfect way to keep your materials safe and easily accessible. The best platforms also have built-in tools to share files and folders securely. This means that when you send a new set of promotional materials to a happy client, you don’t have to worry about the files getting into the wrong hands.

In Dropbox, you can set file permissions to restrict or control access to any files, folders, and content. This means that you can share files with anyone and set access for them to edit or view only. You can track file access and changes in real time, allowing you to more effectively control the content delivery process.

The user submits a file with “view only” permission, which requires a password to access.

As an added layer of security, Dropbox can also password protect any files or folders that are accessed. So even if an attacker gets hold of a link to the content you’ve shared, they won’t be able to view it.

Check password security

Checking password security is one of the most important cybersecurity strategies.

Frequently used passwords like “Password123” or “123456789” pose a huge risk to your business. If you are self-employed, you have no one to ask for a quick password change if a hacker breaks into your account.

Even if you’ve taken care to make sure your login information is secure, there’s still the possibility that your password could be compromised. According to a 2019 Ponemon Institutute study, 47% of SMBs were attacked with hacked employee passwords.

You can purchase a password manager to protect your credentials. Dropbox Passwords allows you to create and store passwords in the cloud. They can be accessed directly from a browser if needed. The Dropbox Passwords feature also includes a built-in tool to track password leaks. If your data is at risk, we’ll notify you immediately to give you time to reset your passwords.

Set up backups and backup backups

Keeping your business growing and running smoothly will always be your top priority. However, the day-to-day hustle and bustle can cause some worries to fall by the wayside.

Administrative tasks such as backing up files and folders play an important role in the cybersecurity of your business. As a sole proprietor, you are personally responsible for keeping your work files and assets safe.

You can manually copy files to an external hard drive, but there is always the possibility that they will be corrupted. Besides, you hardly want to carry around some device “just in case”. Backing up your files with Dropbox Backup is much more reliable. This way you can back up and restore files from any device at any time.
The user selects a file in Dropbox to restore.

But what if something happens to the work computer on which your entire business rests? What if it gets stolen or you spill coffee on it? Such a turn of events is the worst nightmare for any entrepreneur.

With Dropbox Backup, you will never have to worry about that again. With the ability to restore all of your computer’s data, you can pick up where you left off.
No need to go it alone when it comes to cybersecurity

Cyberattacks happen, and self-employed businesses have to deal with them. These situations are frustrating, but thoughtful cybersecurity strategies can help protect your business. Fortunately, implementing them is easier than it looks.

For starters, we recommend choosing a reliable cloud storage service and setting up regular backups to keep your work documents and business safe with Dropbox. Security is at the core of our vision. Your business deserves that level of security, too.

The post Cyber Security Strategies for Individual Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners appeared first on Pol&Des.

Cybersecurity compliance includes the following:

• Conducting a risk assessment for your business, including risks associated with external threats, such as viruses and malware, and internal threats, such as the misuse of confidential information by insiders.
• Establishing an incident response team that can respond quickly to any incident. They should also be trained on how to respond to cyberattacks.
• Implement an intrusion detection system that monitors the network and email traffic for unauthorized activity, such as a DMARC analyzer. DMARC Analyzer.
• Developing a strong cybersecurity strategy that includes best practices for developing security controls and training employees on how to use them properly and how to prevent online fraud.

What is cybersecurity compliance?

Cybersecurity compliance is a set of standards that companies and organizations must follow in order to be considered “compliant.” These standards can vary depending on the type of business or organization, but they typically include policies, procedures, and controls that ensure a company is protected from cyberattacks.

For example, if your organization uses email as a method of communication, you need to implement email security and authentication protocols, such as DMARC, to protect email transactions and verify sending sources. The lack of such protocols can make your domain vulnerable to domain spoofing, phishing attacks, and ransomware.

One of the most important things you can do to protect your company is to make sure your cybersecurity practices are up to par. You can’t afford to ignore cybersecurity breaches – it’s the easiest way for hackers to infiltrate your network and do serious damage to you.

But what is cybersecurity compliance?

Cybersecurity compliance is a set of best practices that companies use in their day-to-day operations to provide protection against cyberattacks. These best practices include:

• Maintaining a secure network
• Maintaining systems and updating security patches
• Protecting customer information and data
• Protecting your own data and email communications

Where do I start with cybersecurity compliance?

The first step in achieving cybersecurity compliance is understanding what you are trying to accomplish.

What are your goals? What are the specific expectations of the organization or person managing cybersecurity compliance? Is this about the enterprise itself or a third-party organization, which could be a government agency, an organization like the NSA, or even a third-party vendor?

If it’s about the enterprise itself, you’ll need to understand how your organization works and how it interacts with other organizations. You also need to know what data they collect and where they store it. And if they’re using cloud services like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Microsoft Azure, or Oracle Cloud Platform (OCP), you need to find out if there are any security controls in those services.

If you’re working with a third-party organization, such as a government agency or a third-party vendor, you want to make sure that they have a good understanding of both your organization and its needs, as well as their own process for monitoring and responding to threats. You also want them to be familiar with the types of attacks that can happen to your company’s systems and how.
A cybersecurity compliance strategy: A plan in action

Email Security

Let’s start with the basics: You need to secure your email system. This means protecting your emails with a password, even if it’s just a single password for the entire system. You also need to make sure that any external services that send or receive email from your organization are also secure and have the same password requirements as your internal systems.

Your company’s email system is a critical part of your business. You use it to communicate with potential clients, customers and employees, and to send out important updates and announcements.

But it’s also one of the most vulnerable parts of your company.

So if you want to make sure your emails remain private and protected from hackers, cybersecurity compliance is essential. Here are some tips for ensuring your email is cybersecurity compliant:

Make sure you use encryption(SSL) when sending sensitive information via email. This will help ensure that no one can intercept or read what is sent between your computer and the recipient’s device.

Set a password policy so that all users have unique passwords that are changed regularly and never used in other services or applications on the same account or device as the email service provider (ESP).

Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) wherever possible so that only authorized people can access accounts with 2FA enabled – and even then only if they’ve already gained access from someone else with 2FA already enabled

Protect your email domain from spoofing, phishing, ransomware, etc. by implementing email authentication protocols like DMARC, SPF and DKIM

Protect your emails during transmission from the prying eyes of intruders by enforcing TLS encryption of emails with MTA-STS

The importance of cybersecurity compliance

There are many ways in which a company can become non-compliant with cybersecurity requirements. For example, if your company has an outdated firewall, hackers can use your system as a launching point for malware attacks. Or if your network isn’t protected by two-factor authentication, you could be at risk of having your website compromised. Or if your email isn’t authenticated, it could open the door to spoofing and phishing attacks.

It’s important to note that compliance doesn’t protect against all types of threat vectors. Cybersecurity solutions can help organizations prevent hackers from accessing their networks, prevent intellectual property theft, protect physical assets such as computers and servers, prevent malware infections that can limit access to critical systems or information, detect online payment transaction fraud and stop other cyberattacks before they occur.

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Understand what IoT security is significant in your industry and business model

All industries require some minimum level of IoT security as part of “hygiene.” The recent WannaCry attack greatly exposed organizations with outdated operating systems that were not patched appropriately. Simple patch management is a matter of adequate IT management, which should be routine, but it is the added cost that customers must pay for sophisticated cyber security.

However, we believe there is an opportunity to view security as more than just “hygiene.” Over the past decade, many companies have seen IT evolve from an MVH into a source of real differentiation, ensuring customer satisfaction and their willingness to pay. A similar change awaits IoT security in the future, but in certain industries we are already seeing it today. One example is the physical security industry. Door lock companies can already put added value on products with particularly strong cybersecurity features because cybersecurity can make or break a product’s core function.

Executives need to understand the role and relevance of IoT security in their industries and how to monetize solutions to fit their business model. However, a thorough understanding of what IoT security means for a company cannot end at the strategic level. Executives need to know the basics of vulnerability. Typically, reviewing the best attack scenarios for a particular company and understanding the attackers and their motivations will be a good basis for further strategy and budget allocations. Security investments should focus on the risk most likely to occur for a particular business or industry.

Set up clear roles and responsibilities for IoT security along your supply chain

IoT requires a holistic cybersecurity framework that extends across the entire IoT stack – all levels of application, communication and sensors. Of course, every layer needs to be protected, but companies also need to prepare for cross-layer threats.

This will require a strategic dialogue with upstream and downstream business partners, whether suppliers or customers, to determine security responsibilities throughout the supply chain. The starting point for this discussion should be to identify the weak links in the holistic model; from an attacker’s perspective, they will be targeted to harm the entire chain. Everyone then assumes a role, which should depend on who has the competence and incentives to include monetization. The industry players operating in each part of the IoT stack bring certain advantages that they can use to provide an integrated solution:

• Device and semiconductor manufacturers operating at a lower level of the stack can use their low-level (hardware) security design capabilities as an advantage to develop higher-level (software) security.
• Network equipment manufacturers benefit from the fact that many of the key competencies in transport layer security are applicable to the application layer. In addition, they can use their hardware development capabilities to offer an integrated solution.
• Application developers can use their control over application interfaces or client access as an advantage in defining low-level architectures.

Engage in strategic conversations with your regulator and collaborate with other industry players

A company’s cybersecurity creates externalities that go far beyond the impact of the company’s own operations and therefore must be addressed within the classic government-business divide. Most current cybersecurity standards are weakening because they are neither industry-specific nor detailed enough, and they neglect most layers of the IoT stack, including manufacturing and product development. Regulators will eventually begin to address this gap, and companies need to get involved in the discussion or set the tone.

Industry leaders can form these structures by bringing together key players to create IoT security standards for their industry. Partnerships with other players, including competitors, can also result in mutually beneficial pooling of resources that exceed official industry standards. For example, in the banking sector, one company brought together several competitors to create “common assessments” to evaluate security technology vendors, resulting in huge efficiency gains for both banks and their vendors. Another example of this sector is FS-ISAC, an information community through which competing banks share information about security weaknesses, attacks, and successful countermeasures.

Capturing cybersecurity as a priority for the entire product lifecycle and developing the appropriate skills to achieve it

Security should be part of the entire product lifecycle, from product development through the development process and continuous use of the product every day. The foundation of product safety in the field is “safety by design” during the product development phase. It is also important to ensure security during the manufacturing process, given Industry 4.0’s role in driving IoT proliferation on retail sites and in other manufacturing environments. Finally, a vision is needed to protect products after they are sold. To that end, companies need to develop a strategy to provide security patches for products in this area, for example, through automatic update capabilities.

Ensuring cybersecurity throughout the product lifecycle requires organizational and technological change. The organizational component involves clear responsibility for cybersecurity in the product and manufacturing environment. Several companies have acted by giving the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO- Chief Information Security Officer) responsibility for cybersecurity in both information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT). Regardless of the structural setup, alignment of goals is critical because there must be strong collaboration between the CISO’s work and other departments, whether in product development, production, or even customer service. In addition, new roles must be created that systematically integrate security into all relevant products and processes. For example, a European telecommunications company and a media company use large-scale training programs to create a community of “security advocates” throughout the organization. These security advocates gain additional decision-making power within their teams as a result of achieving “cybersecurity” status. CISOs have used these trainings to quadruple their share.

Be rigorous in transforming mindsets and skills

Executives around the world are increasingly adopting a business model where security is constantly evolving and where people are rewarded, not punished, for identifying weaknesses.

In addition, managers must see to it that security-related knowledge and skills become a standard requirement for employees in information technology, product development and manufacturing. On the one hand, additional training programs for current employees can help; on the other hand, a specific IoT security standard must be developed. To develop these crossover skills at scale, companies should consider working with other players in the industry, for example, to create university programs and professional learning curricula.

Create a contact system for external security researchers and develop a response plan after completion

Companies should implement a single visible contact for notifications or complaints related to IT security. Over the past two years, and especially in the IoT context, there have been numerous examples of security researchers attempting to notify the company multiple times after a breach was discovered, and the company either didn’t follow up at all, or the researcher was passed from one department to the next without taking responsibility.

In addition, companies need a response plan for different attack scenarios. The consequences of an unprofessional response to an incident are often more devastating than the incident itself. In the IoT world, incidents can impact company operations, so cybersecurity must be part of business continuity management and disaster recovery planning. Perhaps most importantly, organizations must develop a strong communications strategy specific to certain scenarios and provide ongoing, transparent and relevant messages to users, regulators, investors and perhaps the general public.

Cybersecurity is still much talked about, but it is not yet being used as a differentiating factor on the business side. With the advent of the Internet of Things, there is an opportunity to move forward and designate the security of products, manufacturing processes and platforms as a strategic priority. The breadth of this challenge spans the entire supply chain and product lifecycle and includes both regulatory and communication strategies. For IT leaders, we believe cybersecurity should be on the agenda until rigorous processes are in place, resiliency is established, and priorities are transformed.

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