Effective cyber resilience means guaranteeing that your team, processes, and technologies are ready to withstand and recover from any adverse event – from natural disasters to cyberattacks. When SMBs get serious about developing a cyber resilience strategy, there are a few areas they should focus on. This article will discuss some recommendations for fortifying your plans and becoming more resilient.
Unfortunately, too many companies are just one wrong keystroke away from an event that can disrupt business operations, compromise confidential information, or put the business in jeopardy. Whether it’s a ransomware attack or a weather event, cyber resilience should be a priority for every company.
What is Cyber Resilience?
Cyber resilience includes the business’ capability to anticipate, endure, and recover from various adverse events that may compromise systems and operations. Cyber resilience is a strategic approach that is meant to enhance and maintain mission-critical objectives even in a challenging cyber environment.
According to experts, there are three primary areas to concentrate on when building your company’s cyber resilience program:
- Teams and Personnel: The most experienced members of your business tend to be the ones tasked with handling crises. However, this may not be the most effective way to approach resilience.You will want to identify members of your team that perform well under pressure. The ability to operate at a high level while the heat is on is a vital skill for both individuals and teams during an emergency. Everyone must develop resiliency by learning how to work together through adversity. Real-world simulations and tabletop exercises can be integrated into incident response planning, while penetration tests can measure team coherence and boost confidence. Though not everyone reacts the same way under stress or pressure, a resilient team can learn to navigate adversity under diverse conditions.
- Processes and Workflow: In order to establish resilient processes, they must maintain the integrity, redundancy, and flexibility of workflows under high levels of stress.Processes are generally built for efficiency, simplicity, and affordability. They are typically exceptionally consistent. While this dependability is ideal for normal operations, there is little flexibility to react and adapt if a workflow segment is compromised. Highly resilient processes require significant effort to develop and maintain, and building alternative pathways should something go wrong is not only difficult but can be expensive. The solution is to balance the need for an efficient workflow with a cost-effective process to react strategically to interruptions. Resilient processes and workflow will be structured to ensure that the company achieves desired outcomes even if key personnel or systems are not functioning as intended.
Disaster recovery, business continuity and cyber recovery planning are effective methods to identify the areas within your processes that must be resolved to guarantee that the processes can function in adverse scenarios.
- Technology, Information, and Data: Resilient technology and data must continue to be functional and dependable in crisis – and be recovered rapidly enough to limit the impact on the company. After a cybersecurity event, the team must determine if the data is usable, functional, and trustworthy. It must be all three to be truly resilient.
Become More Resilient with Alliance IT
In a perfect world, people, processes, data, and technology are sufficiently resilient to handle pressure under duress. However, situations are rarely perfect. The professionals at Alliance IT have the knowledge and expertise you need to build resilient processes that can protect your company in the case of disaster or attack.
Whether you need help with recovery planning or structure processes that can withstand the unexpected, call Alliance IT to set up a consultation. We help Sarasota area SMBs to grow, thrive, and survive.
