Data breaches have become so common that seeing breach incidents in the news does not seem to surprise us anymore. One of the most recent breaches was highlighted in a Canada Post announcement that mentioned their third-party supplier suffered a malware attack, exposing shipping and receiving information from around 950,000 customers.
What are the 3 best practices to prevent data breaches in your organization?
The top question that comes to a CEO’s mind when seeing news like this is “how can we avoid falling a victim of a data breach like this?” Here are the top 3 tips:
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#1 Educate your people.
One of the most common ways a data breach happens is a malicious link in a phishing email that an employee accidentally clicks. Defending your employees’ inboxes, therefore, is the first line of defense. The good news is that you can prevent data breaches, simply by educating your employees on the potential threats that they could face. Feel free to download this guide and share it with your employees.
#2 Be proactive with smart technology enabled by AI.
The techniques used by cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated and advanced. Do you have a smart alarm system for your house and office? Why not implement the same for your virtual office, i.e. your data and infrastructure? As you digitize more and more of your business operations, your virtual assets become more valuable and critical to protect.
Just as you want a smart alarm system for your house and office to effectively protect your physical assets, you want the same for your virtual office. Microsoft’s Azure Sentinel is the smart security technology powered by artificial intelligence and data that is widely used and trusted by organizations, both small and large.
The best way to evaluate if this is the right fit for your business is a complimentary consultation with our Principal Consultant. Book a call here.
#3 Consider cybersecurity as part of your business strategy.
Given how much of your business operation is digitized and how sophisticated cyberattacks have become, cybersecurity should be considered as part of your overall business strategy. Cybersecurity is much more than just anti-virus and firewall. One malware attack can easily compromise your confidential data, including your customers’ data, and bring your entire business operation to a full stop. You may never recover your lost data. Further, your corporate brand and relationship with customers and partners may suffer irreparable damage.
Recognizing these risks and applying a security lens to every aspect of your business is what is required of a CEO and senior executive team. A Technology Strategy Framework designed for C-suites is one way to ensure that you apply this security lens.
A Technology Strategy Framework consists of the following 7 elements: security, infrastructure, core business applications, departmental applications, productivity, brand experience, and insights & automation.
For a clear visualization of the Framework and how the seven elements are stacked with each other, we draw an analogy between the Framework and a house. As you see in the image below, security is the foundation of your framework. Every house needs a solid foundation before the rest of the house is built. For a business, the solid foundation is clear understanding of cybersecurity.
The CEOs and their executive teams we have worked with have found a brainstorming session helpful and essential to build their Technology Strategy Framework. The Technology Roadmap Lite for CEOs is a brainstorming session we designed specifically for C-suite executives. See the demo below and book a complimentary consultation here.
