Thursday 19 January 2017

SumTips: Davos’ 2017 Guide to Business Cybersecurity

locked computerThe annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is underway. While the election of Donald Trump to the American presidency has attendees questioning what else 2017 will bring, one concern remains clear: cybersecurity.

In conjunction with the live event, the Forum offers a host of suggestions for making the coming year cybersecure, for businesses and individuals alike:

 

From “Why being a responsible leader means being cyber-resilient”:
  • Cyber risk is a systemic challenge and cyber-resilience a public good. Without security and resilience in our networks, it will be impossible to safely take advantage of the innumerable opportunities that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is poised to offer. Responsible and innovative leaders, therefore, are seeking ways to deal with these risks. In order to meet these challenges and be truly responsive to and responsible for the challenges of digitalization, leaders need tools and partnerships.


From “Defending against cybercrime: how to make a business cyber-resilient”:
  • Cyberattacks, cyber-breaches and cybercrime are not new problems and are universally acknowledged to be costly, pervasive and increasingly sophisticated. The best defence against such intrusions is cyber-resilience: building capabilities to protect yourself and your business from cyber threats, and building the ability to rebound from attacks, should they happen.


From “Four steps to protect your business against cybercrime”:

Ask yourself these questions:
  • Is the board on board? Security has to be on the board’s agenda. They need to be constantly thinking about the worst case scenario: what would happen if your information were stolen? How badly would your business be damaged if one individual were bribed or blackmailed? What are all the possible ways someone could attack?
  • Is security part of your culture? The board members can’t do everything themselves. You need to build security awareness into your organization’s culture by making it part of everyone’s role. Give them responsibility, and encourage them to speak up.
  • Have you separated your data? The trick is to make sure you have layers between your systems. If your customer data is behind another wall, it’s safer. You want to make sure your most valuable information is hidden – even from your own employees. You don’t see bank vaults out on the street. They’re behind checkpoints, cameras and closed doors. Do the same with your data.
  • Do you have all the basics sorted? Start with making sure passwords are strong and long and ensuring that all the right policies are in place. Encryption should be used across the board and you need a response team ready to deal with attacks and minimize the damage. Spare a moment to think about whether your partners are keeping your data safe. Most importantly, think from a criminal’s perspective: try hacking back into your own business to identify vulnerabilities and then fix them.

Protect yourself, surf secure and stay Rando!




Image credit of Shutterstock.com.
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