In 2019 it has been estimated that Cyber related crimes costs businesses over $2 Trillion dollars globally. It is really hard to pinpoint an exact cost on Cyber Crimes committed annually because only 10-12% of Cyber Crimes are reported to authorities. Since Cyber Crimes are so profitable it is understandable why a new attack is launched about every 39 seconds.
In fact, approximately 85 percent of small business owners believe their company is safe from hackers, viruses, malware or a data breach. This disconnect is largely due to the widespread belief that small businesses are unlikely targets for Cyber-Attacks. In reality, Cyber Criminals are simply looking for an easy target with the path of least resistance. Symantec’s study found that 40 percent of attacks are against organizations with fewer than 500 employees.
The first step to securing your environment is to have a clear understanding of where you stand from a Cyber Security prospective.
Business Leaders should have a risk assessment of their environment conducted to help them determine what the current Cyber Security posture of their organization is. Having a Cyber Security Assessment completed will provide action driven data to the business that will allow them to develop a strategy to address high value assets that are at risks in order to take the appropriate steps to mitigate or reduce exposure.
In fact with a Cyber Security Assessment you will learn there are simple things you can do to reduce Cyber Security risks. For example, Ensuring Firewall’s, Operating System Software, and Endpoint Protection is installed and up to date on all systems. By simply ensuring all the doors are locked or at least secure your organization can deter most lower level Cyber Attacks.
Second, stay Intune with current Cyber Threats. Cyber Criminal are always looking for new exploits. Cyber Criminals often use Darknet Forums to share new attack vectors with each other. Cyber Attackers use peers to help perfect their craft before exposing their new method of attack to the real world. Once a new exploit is successfully launched in the real world other Cyber Criminal act quickly take advantage of the new exploit before it is discovered and blocked. Once the trend becomes common knowledge, organizations learn how it works and take the appropriate mitigation steps to address the exploit or vulnerability.
Most of all implementing some type of SIEM in your environment will help your organization be proactive at detecting potential Cyber Security threats. When a SIEM detects a potential area of compromise the AI built into the SIEM can send an alert to your IT staff or Outsourced Security Operations Center for further review. By proactively investigating a potential Cyber Security event you can reduce the overall impact and loss should the event turn into a Cyber Security Incident.
At the end of the day many Organization’s typically don’t have the in house resources or budget to employ a Cyber Security Team to protect their business. Many IT staff are simply trying to keep up and put out day to day operational fires. Local IT staff simply do not have enough time in the day to investigate potential Cyber Security Threats.
Whether you’re looking to secure Cyber Security Insurance or simply looking to ensure your environment is secure from Cyber Criminals I can help you custom tailor a solution to accomplish your business goals.
For a free consultation to discuss your organizations needs please feel free to reach out at 863-734-8060 or email [email protected]
Kip Kirchberg is an International Cyber Security Expert who has experience building Cyber Security Teams and working with Multiple Fortune 500 organizations. Experience includes but is not limited to Building SIEM platforms, Endpoint Security, 3rd Party Remote Access, Industrial Control System’s NextGen Firewall’s, Helping Organizations Identify Cyber Security Risks, Generating Reports that lead to actionable data, Build and maintain Incident Response Team’s, Draft and Adopt Corporate Cyber Security Governance, Internal and External Pen Testing, plus much more….
