It’s a battle many businesses feel like they’re losing — strengthening cyber security measures without killing productivity. The right managed service provider can help give your business the reboot it needs to achieve balance and security.
It should not be an uphill battle to gain access to the files and systems you need to be able to accomplish the day-to-day tasks of your job. Your tech team is supposed to keep your systems procedures running like a well-oiled machine. Instead, your IT is almost rusted beyond repair and cyber security measures are at an all-time low. Unfortunately, this happens far too often and security comes at the cost of productivity.
Your Tech Team Should Not Be the Problem
When companies implement new and improved security measures, it often looks something like this:
- Your employees have had access to the same old system since the doors first opened many moons ago.
- Your tech team introduces new cyber security measures that restrict data access to only those employees who need and protect it.
- Everyone is told that nothing can go wrong with these new cyber security measures and that everything will be just fine.
- Launch date comes and everything “breaks” — sometimes it’s just that people don’t have access to things they need. Other times it’s more significant — like a library that no one knew was linked to every business function is no longer connected so nothing works.
- Your tech team then spends countless hours trying to fix the problem or sets everything back to the way it was before so that business can resume.
These scenarios are all too common because businesses tend to grow in spurts with technology systems implemented by multiple people and teams over time. Without solid infrastructure management, an IT staff may have little to no knowledge of what system is connected to where. Everything runs along smoothly until there is a system outage or alert. Repairing the outage should be brief and frictionless for your IT team, but it isn’t.
It doesn’t have to be this way. With the right preparation, strategy and infrastructure planning, 95 percent of cyber security measures can roll out without any disruption in your day-to-day work. It takes a team with the right knowledge, experience and time dedicated to the infrastructure of your network.
Cyber Security Is Critical to Your Business
If security can be such an obstacle to productivity, can you just go without it? Consider this: Your business does not have to be big or well-known, or even make a profit, to be targeted by cyber criminals. Without cyber security to protect your business, any cyber criminal can target and exploit the vulnerabilities — often with no hacking skills needed. Most are simply running a computer program that scans through your entire system and then automatically attacks any weakness it finds. Criminals don’t even need to know your business name to put you out of business.
Some companies think that if they have cyber insurance, they don’t need to do anything else. But after a breach, you might find that you can’t get cyber insurance or your premiums spike. Or worse, your cyber insurance may not pay out. Insurers may try to deny a claim if they believe a company did not take steps to protect itself. Not all cyber insurance covers the same things, so buyers beware. Simply put, insurance is not a cyber security measure that prevents cyber attack.
Find the Balance by Knowing Your Risk Tolerance
It’s true there is such a thing as too much cyber security. Think of it like a door. You can have a standard lock or be more secure with a deadbolt. But adding 10 deadbolts makes it much harder to get in and out: There’s too much security. That line between enough and too much will vary somewhat by business. We refer to this as risk tolerance.
A few factors play into your business’s risk tolerance, including:
- The nature of the business or industry.
- What are the regulatory factors? What fines or penalties could you face?
- How much of your business is online, including what is created, stored or paid for online?
The right IT partner will take into account your risk tolerance as well as complete a thorough mapping of your IT infrastructure before implementing additional cyber security measures. They will also review with you the controls and industry-standard frameworks that should be applied. These vary by the tool or application. The two most commonly used protocols are Center for Internet Security (CIS) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Cyber security doesn’t need to get in the way of business. Let us show you how simple and effective it can be with the right partner. Contact us to discuss your needs and goals.
