Cybersecurity has become a necessity for businesses of all sizes as cyber threats are on the rise with every passing day. Traditional cybersecurity is reactive, leaving a security team to deal with the aftermath of a security incident. In contrast, this is the time to adopt a proactive approach that takes into account all potential cybersecurity threats before they have the chance to impact an organization.
Establish a Behavioral Baseline
Latest cybersecurity attacks have evolved in form and size. The pandemic allowed existing threat actors to hone their TTPs, while the barrier to entry for new attackers was lowered. A cyber data breach doesn’t start when it is detected but when the attacker compromises a system. The longer it takes to detect a breach, the attackers get more time to analyze the system and plan a further course of action while staying undetected.
This is where establishing a behavioral baseline comes to play. A baseline aids organizations set parameters for normal traffic on the network. In the event of a security breach, a baseline enables the security team to identify anomalies rapidly before they can impact the organization’s data and infrastructure.
Automate Intelligence
As cyber threats are getting more sophisticated and intenser, manually tracking and blocking them is out of the question. Solution - automation. Performing security tasks manually is time-consuming and also prone to human error. Automation can help organizations save time, money, and effort. Proactive approach implies that the defenses against cybersecurity threats are ready to fire. With security automation platforms, security teams can carry out processes across the entire infrastructure in seconds. Automation, furthermore, enables organizations to subdue breaches by:
- Improving incident response. Pre-set courses of action allow the SOC to prioritize cyber threats and handle cybersecurity attacks automatically.
- Detecting threats faster without depending on external sources. This indicates that cyber threats, such as phishing, vulnerabilities, and malware, will be detected promptly by the security system.
- Streamlining business processes. Security automation solutions reduce complications, enhance knowledge sharing, eliminate human errors, and facilitate faster decision-making.
Layered Prevention Approach
The cyber threat landscape is huge with a huge range of known and unknown threats. Using only perimeter defense to protect digital assets is not sufficient. Layered security is the need of the hour, which considers a holistic view of cybersecurity. It aims to prevent a single vulnerability from infecting an entire system. Layered approach consists of perimeter defense, such as firewalls, along with threat hunting, threat intelligence sharing, email security solutions, managed security packages, and dark web monitoring solutions, among others. The more comprehensive the defenses are, the lesser the chances of an attack succeeding.
The Bottom Line
Proactive approach to cybersecurity is a broad, inclusive approach. The latest cyberattacks conducted by today’s adversaries are extremely refined and can cause damages worth millions of dollars. Organizations should implement a cybersecurity framework that works ceaselessly to identify, analyze, and mitigate any abnormalities that are the harbinger of a cyber data breach. Following the above-listed practices can prepare businesses to stay safe from inevitable cyberattacks.