A Tough Situation
You’ve got to have the new system, but it’s going to require a steady hand in terms of technology management. For example, SEO—or Search Engine Optimization—is a great new marketing innovation. But if you design your SEO incorrectly, it’ll get flagged by search engine algorithms, spiked, and you’ll lose your investment.
In a similar way, black-hat techniques of cyber criminals can likewise spike the investment you’ve made in new technology solutions, like cloud-based applications. Simultaneously, the cloud provides exceptionally cost-effective business optimization. Competitiveness is increased through this cost-saving solution—but then again, vulnerabilities also increase.
The Cloud Factor
Cloud computing puts all your information on servers that are either public or private—or maybe some hybrid of the two, depending on your situation. The most secure cloud solution would be a private hybrid cloud, but new technological threats will come to undermine your operations even there.
For example, say you’re running IoT (Internet of Things) devices throughout your manufacturing floor as many modern “smart” manufacturers do nowadays in order to collect and act on otherwise unattainable data. Now say some hacker manages to find a hole in your IoT network and install Trojan malware that turns your system into an edge-computing platform for underhanded purposes.
Computing On The Edge
If you’re unfamiliar with edge-computing, it’s basically like the cloud, except using IoT components. Instead of end-units simply being part of a network, each one processes some quotient of data, but spread thinly across an entire network so as not to tax the functionality of a single device.
A hacker could use your smart manufacturing warehouse as his own private computing system, and from there organize deeper black hat shenanigans of the type which could put your company under investigation—a happenstance which is surely intolerable.
In order to overcome such new vulnerabilities, you need—firstly—to have some kind of security system in place which proactively monitors all operations and can notify you the moment something unexpected happens. Secondly, you want to have an IR in place so that should this scenario arise, you can nip it in the bud.
Emergency Response Protocols
Concerning a cyber security breach emergency response, according to CBISecure.com: “Security incidents come in all forms, and each has a measured response. When organizations have an incident the first step should be to enact the IR plan; if your company doesn’t have an IR plan, it’s essential that one is developed…”
Think of your IR plan as the boot camp training of a military person. When going to war, the training kicks in automatically, which could keep an individual alive in a pinch. Well, when you’ve got an IR in place, as things begin getting out of hand, your IR immediately jumps in to deflect damages, and could be that which preserves your company from bankruptcy.
A Multibillion-Dollar Industry
Cybercrime is a multibillion-dollar industry precisely because it is so successful. Many businesses have no IR plans whatsoever, and they’ve additionally got lax security. People tend to think they’ll never be victim to a cyber-attack; that those kinds of things happen “to someone else”.
Statistics are against this kind of reasoning. When it comes to SMBs, it’s almost as though a big red bull’s eye has been painted on every single one. SMBs have less security because they’ve got less need for it, but they’ve also got operations which will be more substantively damaged by something like ransomware, making them more likely to pay.
Hackers know this. Additionally, even if you’re not under the gun from some cybercriminal, your business is going to experience operational difficulties which require technical assistance swiftly to preserve operations. These and other realities recommend having multiple IR solutions in place to comprehensively protect operations.
Author:
Kevin Bennett is an influencer marketing pro with brownboxbranding.com who is passionate about building authentic relationships and helping businesses connect with their ideal online audience. He keeps his finger on the pulse of the ever-evolving digital marketing world by writing on the latest marketing advancements and focuses on developing customized blogger outreach plans based on industry and competition.