Importance of Cyber Resilience in Incident Response Planning
Fortify against cyber threats—embrace resilience. Secure your digital future with an integrated incident response plan.
Dive into cyber resilience with Samir Sherif, chief information security officer at Absolute Software. Discover the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind crafting a robust incident response strategy for a digitally secure future.
Cybersecurity has long moved past the point of being an optional line item in corporate budgets. As cyber threats evolve in complexity and scale, organizations are under relentless pressure to secure their digital ecosystems. Incident Response (IR) planning is crucial, but the term needs to be more accurate. It isn’t merely a checklist that comes into play when a specific security incident occurs; it’s an integrated framework that ensures the business is equipped to handle everything from routine threats to catastrophic events. In this context, the overarching principle of Cyber Resilience becomes particularly significant.
A Holistic Approach to Incident Planning
According to a global labor market report, a quarter of businesses don’t regard IR skills as essential. Almost half said they weren’t confident they could put together an IR plan, which led to 41% saying they were not very or not at all confident that they could deal with a cybersecurity breach or attack. An effective IR plan involves a comprehensive architecture that accounts for internal and external processes designed to mitigate risks. While IR may appear to represent a limited capability at first glance, it’s much more than that. The program should cover a broad spectrum of areas, from technical protocols to human factors, and include contingency plans aligned with the business’s overall strategy for resilience.
The Cornerstone: Business Continuity
Central to this architecture is a solid business continuity plan. This isn’t just about ensuring your IT systems are back online as quickly as possible after an outage. It’s about the entire business’ ability to continue functioning and recover from various disruptions, cyber or otherwise. In essence, a business continuity plan is the foundation for building a resilient organization and an effective IR program.
Contrary to what some may think, equipping an organization with an effective IR plan can be a manageable investment in tools and human resources. Many aspects can be outsourced to specialized IR firms, balancing cost-effectiveness and preparedness.
The Role of Retainers in Incident Response
Enter the concept of an ongoing active retainer. Think of it as a form of ‘cyber insurance.’ These retainers could be set up with nominal or even $0 engagements but with a clear plan and pre-approved costs that can be triggered when an incident occurs. This proactive approach allows an organization to gauge its internal capabilities and weaknesses concerning IR.
See More: Why Smart Manufacturing Needs Smarter Cybersecurity
Components of a Comprehensive Retainer
While the utility of a retainer may be apparent, it’s essential to delve into what this should encompass. A well-rounded retainer should include access to:
- Forensics Experts: For deep dives into how the incident occurred and how to prevent future occurrences.
- Financial Auditing/Accounting Services: To assess the financial implications and compliance factors.
- Identity/Notification Services: For timely and legally compliant notifications to affected parties.
- Public Relations Firms: To manage the narrative and control reputational damage.
- Negotiation Services: Particularly for ransomware attacks, having an expert negotiator could be invaluable.
- Legal Services: For handling contracts, liabilities, and regulatory filings.
- Claims Processing: To manage any indemnities or compensations that must be distributed.
- Regulatory Service Providers: To ensure all responses comply with state, federal, and industry regulations.
Why Cyber Resilience is Crucial
Cyber Resilience is the ability to prevent cyber threats and to withstand and recover from them when they happen. This resilience isn’t just about robust firewalls or advanced intrusion detection systems; it’s about building an organization that can adapt and recover from a cyberattack, both operationally and reputationally. It acknowledges that while every measure will be taken to prevent an incident, the organization is prepared to minimize damage, restore operations, and learn from the event should one occur. In that sense, cyber resilience complements and completes your IR strategy.
More specifically, the workforce has significantly shifted over the past few years, increasing the cyber threats organizations may be exposed to. According to Gartner, by year-end 2023, 48% of knowledge workers will be working hybrid and fully remote (up from 27% in 2019), with 39% working hybrid, up from 12% in 2020. As businesses and their employees adapt to the new normal, it is evident that hybrid work has become a permanent fixture, transitioning from being a mere employee benefit to becoming an employee’s anticipated standard. Despite its advantages, the new work-from-anywhere model strains IT and security teams. This complexity is compounded by remote employees being dispersed across various locations, amplifying an already substantial challenge. They are now actively engaging in critical tasks over networks beyond their organizations’ ownership and control, thereby significantly elevating the level of risk exposure for these organizations. Moreover, even within a single location, users frequently switch between different devices and networks, such as transitioning from a laptop connected to a local coffee shop’s Wi-Fi to a mobile device utilizing a carrier’s cellular network, all while endeavoring to conduct a productive online meeting during their commute home, for instance.
The substantial quantity of applications installed on enterprise devices and the diverse range of operating system versions and builds present a formidable challenge for IT and security teams regarding app maintenance and patching. Consequently, this hampers their capacity to mitigate the exposure to well-known vulnerabilities effectively. This presupposes that IT is attempting to proactively oversee up to 50 to 100 applications. Still, they are likely focused on a much smaller subset, leaving the remainder as “shadow applications” that receive neither management nor patches yet continue to operate in the background. As a result, this increases organizational vulnerabilities and consumes a greater share of system resources.
Building a Resilient Organization for the Future
Building a cyber-resilient organization is a complex yet essential endeavor in today’s digital landscape. An integrated IR plan, underpinned by a business continuity strategy and augmented by specialized external services through a retainer, can dramatically improve an organization’s ability to manage and recover from cyber incidents. It is not merely a defensive stance but a comprehensive, proactive strategy that aligns with the modern realities of business and the ever-present risks of the cyber world.
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