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Regardless of the industry or size of your business, it’s likely that your organization is contending with a range of digital threats. While many of these risks may already be under active surveillance and management, hidden vulnerabilities can often persist beneath the surface—remaining undetected until exploited.
When caught up addressing some of the more well-known security risks like cloud data breaches or ransomware attacks, other security gaps can go unnoticed, leaving the opportunity for cybercriminals to exploit them. It’s important to be aware of how and where these vulnerabilities can originate and put in place active security measures to address them.
Below, we’ll cover three key areas you should be focusing on when creating a holistic view of your organization’s security.
1. Human-Driven Security Threats
Whether or not they realize it, employees are actually one security risk a business has. While this doesn’t mean all or even a small number of employees are actively trying to harm their companies, there are certain security risks that individuals inside the business can cause.
Malicious Insiders
While not common, employees could become malicious insiders who use their access privileges and leverage business trust to carry out certain illegal activities. This might include stealing sensitive business data and selling it on criminal trading networks, or simply trying to cause irreparable damage to internal systems and networks.
Although the risk of having malicious insiders in your organization is incredibly low, it’s important to take proactive steps to minimize any damage they could cause if any are present. By establishing role-based access controls to key systems and applications and only allowing employees to access network locations essential for their jobs, you can reduce the amount of damage they can cause.
Unconscious Security Threats
In most situations, any security threats in your organization that come from your employees don’t originate from malicious intent. Many times, they come from simple human error when configuring security systems, creating weak user credentials, or forgetting to follow certain best practices.
However, not all of these scenarios point to a lack of concern from your employees. If the organization isn’t regularly prioritizing cybersecurity training, it can be easy to lose sight of the critical role all your employees play in helping to strengthen the first line of security defense for your business.
Still, there is also the challenge of knowing where these security threats actually are and deciding on how the company can address them properly. To achieve this, working with outside penetration testing services can help you shortlist your most critical security priorities. By carrying out simulated attacks on your business, pentesters help you pinpoint the weakest elements of your security operations, allowing you to not only address them quickly, but help your employees recognize where and how they were caused in the first place.
2. Unsanctioned Third-Party Software
If you consider the number of systems and services you have in place to run your business, it’s easy to see how you can lose track of all the administration associated with them. When this happens, third-party systems can come or go without you even realizing. This is considered shadow IT and can lead to additional costs for your business if you don’t address it properly.
Shadow IT Risks
Oftentimes, especially when businesses operate with remote workforces, employees are allowed to work autonomously, while using various tools and solutions to help them stay productive and connected to the business. However, if there is a lack of protocol in place when using unsanctioned third-party tools, businesses could unknowingly be allowing employees to use different forms of software that could have certain security risks associated with them.
The core issues with shadow IT are the lack of visibility and control that comes with it. This can lead to a number of issues such as missing critical security updates, unencrypted data storage, or industry compliance issues.
Identifying and Containing Shadow IT
The first steps to addressing shadow IT have to do with identifying the types of tools or services your employees are using. Networking monitoring tools effectively achieve this and can spot unsanctioned devices or software connecting to your systems.
Once you identify these instances, engage with your employees to understand why they feel these types of solutions are needed. In many cases, businesses can find other solutions that meet those needs, but in a much more secure IT environment. After closing off these gaps, it’s important to create clear policies and guidelines on acceptable technology usage and best practices for keeping personal access devices more protected when using third-party solutions.
3. Supply Chain Partner Risks
To keep their business running smoothly, many organizations rely on a network of outside vendors and suppliers to provide essential services. However, as businesses expand their data networks, they also increase their digital attack surfaces.
Increased Exposure Outside Company Networks
Supplier networks create a web of interconnected systems and services that streamline the movement of data between businesses and their partners. The challenge with these common scenarios is that if any one of these partners experiences a cybersecurity incident, all other parties can be directly impacted.
The more partnerships your business creates over time, the more risk you inherently take on.
Managing Third-Party Risks Effectively
Addressing third-party risks effectively is critical for ensuring your company data stays protected regardless of where it resides. To achieve this, it’s important to conduct regular vendor risk assessments that help you gauge the effectiveness of your partners’ security protocols.
Before signing any contracts, risk assessments help you better understand whether or not a potential partnership is a viable option from a security point of view. In addition to these formal audits, you should establish clear security rules and guidelines that your vendors should follow over time. This will help to reduce the likelihood of a serious security incident from occurring or, at the very least, minimize its damage.
Managing Security Threats Where You Least Suspect Them
Maintaining a strong cybersecurity posture means looking below the surface in search of security weak spots that can silently expose your business to increased risk. By keeping in mind the key areas we discussed, you can build stronger defenses for your business while lowering your chances of being impacted by ongoing threats.
Author Bio:
Nazy Fouladirad is President and COO of Tevora, a global leading cybersecurity consultancy. She has dedicated her career to creating a more secure business and online environment for organizations across the country and world. She is passionate about serving her community and acts as a board member for a local nonprofit organization.