7 Steps to Establish a Resilient Data Protection Strategy – Source: securityboulevard.com

Ever evolving and pervasive cyber threats are everywhere. The reality is that when it comes to cyber-attacks, it’s not a question of if your organization will be targeted, but when. Attack vectors are becoming more complex, and no single silver bullet can stop an attack from happening.

In addition to having appropriate security controls in place, organizations must be prepared to respond quickly and effectively to protect data from malicious actors. Cyber resilience is key to recovery when a breach occurs, but what is cyber resilience?

Cyber resilience refers to the ability of an organization or system to withstand, adapt, and recover from a cyber-attack. It involves having the right processes in place before an attack happens so that your organization can minimize damage and return to normal operations as soon as possible.

Here are seven steps you can take to ensure your organization has adequate cyber resilience measures in place:

1. Identify your assets:

The first step towards achieving cyber resilience is understanding which assets need protecting. This includes both physical assets such as computers and servers, as well as digital assets like customer data or intellectual property. Once you have identified all your critical assets, it’s time to understand what sensitive data they contain. Continuous and automated data discovery can give you an accurate picture of all the sensitive data your organization collects, stores, and shares. Different types of data carry significantly higher risk—understanding the types of data your business has and how those data types rank in terms of risk supports cyber resilience.  

2. Develop policies and procedures:

Establishing clear policies and procedures for how employees should handle sensitive information will help reduce the risk of a breach occurring due to human error or negligence. Make sure these policies are regularly reviewed and updated with new or refreshed data security best practices so they remain relevant over time.

3. Implement security controls:

Implementing technical controls will help protect against external threats while also providing visibility into suspicious activity on your network. Start by reviewing the CIS (Center for Internet Security) benchmarks to understand which controls make sense for your organization. More than 100 CIS benchmarks cover 25 product families, offering a guide that your team can use to institute controls and safeguards to protect against attacks.  

4. Monitor activity regularly:

Monitoring user activity on your network helps identify any suspicious behavior that could indicate a potential threat before it causes damage – this includes monitoring for phishing attempts or tracking changes made within databases for unauthorized access attempts. By keeping track of who is accessing company data and systems you can quickly detect any anomalies that may signal malicious intent.

5. Train employees:

Educating employees about cybersecurity best practices not only reduces the likelihood they’ll fall victim to social engineering tactics, but also ensures that everyone understands their role in maintaining secure systems. Consider offering regular training sessions on topics like password management, phishing awareness, and other common risks associated with company tools and systems.

6. Test systems regularly:

Testing systems regularly allows you identify vulnerabilities early on so they can be addressed promptly. This includes running penetration tests periodically which simulate real-world attacks against networks/systems in order determine where weaknesses exist. Additionally, conducting regular backups ensures important files and data aren’t lost if something goes wrong during testing activities.  

7. Have an incident response plan in place:

Having a response plan ready ahead of time makes it easier for teams react quickly when faced with unexpected events like natural disasters or large-scale breaches. This plan should include detailed instructions outlining how each team member should respond depending on different scenarios along with contact information for outside vendors who may need contacted during emergency situations (e g. IT consultants).  

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Following these seven steps will help ensure your organization has adequate measures in place when incidents occur, fostering healthy cyber resilience overall. Check out the Data Protection Solutions Guide to review new and emerging use cases, industry best practice frameworks and a solutions comparison that can support your team’s cyber resiliency efforts.