Are Cybersecurity Budget Concerns Keeping you Awake at Night?

Your business is struggling to balance network security with a limited IT budget. You understand the importance of cybersecurity strategies, but you’re facing:

• IT budgets that need to increase to meet current cybersecurity demands
• Privacy concerns and industry regulatory requirements are a top priority in cybersecurity spending
• Small- to medium-sized businesses know they are frequently targeted by hackers, but lack the finances to increase their IT budgets
• Cybersecurity budgets must be increased to cover remote workers and BYOD policies
• The inability to measure your cybersecurity budget needs
• Tools and resources that are inefficient, overpriced, and don’t fit your company’s needs.

You’re not alone. Per a SMB IT Security report released in 2019, 29% of smaller businesses spend less than $1000 on cybersecurity… per year. This is staggering when you also consider that 83% of small to medium-sized business lack the financial ability to rebuild after an attack.

According to a report released by Cybercrime Magazine, there will be an estimated 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by the year 2021.

Per the Harvard Business Review, “The majority of chief information security officers around the world are worried about the cybersecurity skills gap, with 58 percent of CISOs believing the problem of not having an expert cyber staff will worsen.”

This means that you may not be able to find qualified IT techs and specialists to help you create and implement the cybersecurity plans you need to keep your business safe.

Employee Retention is an Ongoing Challenge All Business Owners Face

It’s hard enough finding a good employee, but what if you can’t keep them after you find them? It’s estimated that voluntary employee turnover costs employers around $1 trillion dollars in the United States alone.

If your business is having a higher-than-average turnover rate, you may need to assess the software and devices your teams are using. In a surprising report, over half of all employees are unhappy with the tech they are currently using at their jobs: one-quarter of employees have said that their employer tech has made them unhappy enough to think about leaving the organization, and one in eight of these employees will follow through and leave the company.

It’s predicted that the number of IoT (Internet of Things) devices in use will reach nearly 25 billion by the year 2025. Is it possible to have too much of a good thing?

The IoT presents cybersecurity challenges because they are connected devices you seldom think about, much less consider protecting. As you make the shift to automated and connected devices, you may not be aware of the threats lurking in the devices and apps you now rely on to keep your organizations running smoothly. From security cameras to printers and even thermostats, more devices connected to your network means increased vulnerability to hacking.

As if that wasn’t enough by itself, you are facing new IoT cybersecurity challenges with the rise of BYOD and remote work models. It’s recommended that you have each employee review and sign an acceptable use policy that covers:

• Cybersecurity best practices when working remotely
• BYOD policies that provide comprehensive lists of what is acceptable and unacceptable when using personal devices at work (use this free do-it-yourself BYOD policy to help you create your own BYOD policy)
• Cybersecurity education classes

Remember that each employee will be connected to the IoT in some form, whether it’s a Ring doorbell or a smart house run via phone app. Even if you don’t support a BYOD model, think of the apps within your organization. Are the manufacturers compliant with regulations? Are they connected via single password? Are you running them on the same network as your working files and sensitive data? Identifying and securing IoT devices is, for business owners, a logistical nightmare.

As if external threats and IoT vulnerabilities aren’t enough to keep you awake at night, consider this: your employees will always be your biggest security risk.

Insider threats can be malicious, like the disgruntled employee who takes company information with them when they leave or crash your network for “revenge.” More frequently, employees can be accidentally negligent, like the worker who accidentally clicks on a link infected with malware.

Whether negligent or intentional, insider threats are one of the biggest cybersecurity challenges you face today.

You may have heard the terms “Artificial Intelligence” and “Machine Learning” before. The goal of AI is to use “reason” to solve problems like a human would, while ML uses statistics and mathematical equations to guess unknown factors. Many anti-virus software platforms use a combination of both in their solutions.

The problems with AI-based anti-virus begin when it flags a program as malicious when it may just be poorly programmed. When this happens, it can cause downtime and usually a call to your IT helpdesk.

Watch this video to learn about how our Iconic Fortify product uses AI and ML:

Right Scale’s annual State of the Cloud Report for 2019 found that 91% of businesses used a public cloud solution, and 72% used a private one.

One of the most exciting cybersecurity trends is the push to move files, applications, and security services to the cloud. With cloud solutions, your workforce is connected wherever they are, collaborating on files and communicating in real-time both in the office and remotely.

Cloud computing has many cybersecurity benefits as well, including:

• Multi-factor authentication (MFA) on devices: Your employees will be required to sign in using a combination of methods, including passwords and push notifications.
• No local storage: If an employee loses a device or the machines are breached, there will be no files stored on them for the bad actor to access. In addition, VoIP is available to securely streamline your phone communications.
• Rapid recovery: With backups stored in the cloud, recovery after a breach or natural disaster can begin much faster than with traditional backups.

Your business is connected to the IoT in ways you don’t even think about: security and web cameras, GPS, HVAC controls, alarm systems, and even medical devices such as pacemakers are connected.

Often these systems and controls lack implemented security and are easily targeted by hackers. Cybercriminals use automated programs to find your IoT devices, and then try to connect to them using the devices and default administrative credentials. Most users don’t think about changing these passwords, so this method of attack can be very successful.

Once inside, the hackers will install malware. Because the IoT isn’t covered under routine security scans, this malware can run undetected for days, weeks, months, or even longer. Your systems are now under their control.

Having a hacker accessing your air conditioning system may not seem like a big thing on the surface, but the implications can be frightening. In 2013, seven bad actors hacked into the operating systems of the Bowman Dam in Rye, New York. Over a course of three weeks, these hackers accessed financial information and other sensitive data, but even more alarmingly, they had access to information on the dam itself including water levels, temperatures, and the status of the gate because all functions were connected and automated. The incident could easily have led to a terrorist attack had the breach not been caught and stopped in time.