Consortium of Leading Cyber Technology and Insurance Providers Announce the Launch of SafeHouseInitiative.org
January 17, 2023
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By Karen Lambrechts, LanSweeper
Here are some ways you can improve your IT security without spending a fortune.
Yes, we know there is a global skills shortage at the moment but bear with us.
Hiring senior IT security specialists for your team can be expensive. However, there is a benefit to hiring less experienced staff. Cybersecurity is a team sport after all and there are plenty of cybersecurity team roles that don’t require years of experience. Mixing in some junior staff to support the day-to-day tasks will ease some of the pressure on the rest of your team.
On top of that, it gives you a pool of fresh talent you can train to fit the needs of your team. More people means more room for everyone to focus on their dedicated tasks. A full cybersecurity team, where every role is filled will make operations run more smoothly. And it never hurts to have an extra pair of eyes around when it comes to looking out for security risks.
In order for an IT security team to be effective, they need to be equipped with the right skills. It could be that your team could work more efficiently if time was set aside once a month for training. A solid progression plan for your cybersecurity staff will help you determine which skills and knowledge your team needs.
The playing field of IT is always changing so cybersecurity learning is a constant and ever-evolving need. Luckily everyone seems to understand that and cybersecurity education programs are everywhere. It’s up to you to choose the cybersecurity education resources that would be worth investing in.
As well as training in core areas of IT security, you should look at developing your team’s soft skills. By this we mean how to work under pressure, think on their feet, and resolve problems quickly. Your team needs to know how to respond in emergency situations, maintain a professional demeanor, and stay calm when a security breach or disaster strikes. With at least one or two members of staff possessing those skills, your team will feel much more capable in a crisis.
A free way of bolstering your IT security resource is to make sure that the team you have is working as efficiently as possible. A skilled and hard-working team won’t cut it if their efforts are being wasted in the wrong places. The right KPIs and a robust performance management program will help keep your team focused and motivated.
Regular meetings, effective deadlines, clear objectives, and thorough evaluations with each member all serve to keep your team on track. One of the most important things you can do is incentivize staff members who are doing a great job. This will not only boost morale and encourage others to follow their lead, but it’ll also give your team greater motivation to maintain a top-notch performance.
The more you know about the dangers your business is facing, the better equipped you’ll be to defend against them. The right software will help you to monitor and protect everything from individual computers to mobile devices, to the entire network infrastructure.
You can’t protect what you don’t know you have. Today, there are tools available that will give you a complete overview of your IT estate by eliminating blind spots and creating a complete and comprehensive inventory of your IT assets. On top of that they can also help you find vulnerabilities, apply patches and upgrades, and comply with industry-leading cybersecurity frameworks.
If you don’t have the cybersecurity budget for additional staff or software, why not outsource some of your security responsibility? IT outsourcing companies like MSPs and MSSPs can bring great value by taking some of the workload of your own IT security team and helping you conquer your IT challenges. By outsourcing some of your team’s day-to-day responsibilities to a trusted third party, you can save time and focus on core business activities.
With all this talk of expanding and optimizing your team, and looking for tools and outsourcing opportunities it can be easy to overlook the importance of managing the suppliers you already have. There may be some opportunities there where you can reduce your cybersecurity spending.
By doing a full cybersecurity review, you can weigh each service you have against the cost and maybe look for a cheaper or more worthwhile alternative. Ask your team what value they are getting from your current suppliers, and compare them to other options. Alternatively, ask your existing supplier what more they could offer. You may end up with a better service, boosting your overall IT security.
Truly, IT security is a company-wide responsibility. The better your workforce is informed about cybersecurity, the easier the job will be for your IT security team. Training your entire workforce may seem like a big investment. However, knowing that the average cost of a cyber attack in 2022 was $4.35 million, it would probably be worth it.
Make IT security an important part of employee onboarding and introduce regular training sessions for staff members. Focus on the essentials like strong passwords, phishing emails, keeping software updated, suspicious links, and multi-factor authentication. Involve the whole workforce in keeping your company safe. This should help minimize damage and disruption to your business and make everyone more accountable for IT security.
It’s important to focus your IT security team’s time and effort on the tasks that really matter. Find the tasks that take up the most time and automate these processes. This will give your team more time to spend on more important things. The expense of cybersecurity automation may be more than you think you can fit into the budget. However, once you compare the cost of automated cybersecurity tasks with that of the labor required to do everything manually, it should be a no-brainer.
