The security posture of an organization is its level of preparedness when it comes to cybersecurity. These days, it’s more important than ever to have a strong security posture that will ensure regulatory compliance, protect the sensitive data of customers and employees, and provide users with easy access to the applications and systems they need. However, to have a strong security posture, you need to know where you currently stand.
What Is Your Security Posture
Looking at the concept of security posture in more detail, your security posture includes:
- The processes and controls you have implemented to protect against cyberattacks
- How much visibility do you have when it comes to your assets and your attack surface
- How well you can detect attacks and contain them
- How prepared you are to respond to and recover from security events
- How much automation are you leveraging within your security program
Assessing Your Security Posture
When assessing your current security posture, you need to be able to answer a few questions. These include:
- What is the overall level of security in your organization?
- Are you using the appropriate security strategy for your needs?
- Are your security controls effective?
- Are you able to determine with accuracy your level of breach risk and overall cyber resilience?
- What is your level of vulnerability when it comes to breaches and attacks?
- Is your vulnerability management program effective?
- What methods can you use to identify risk owners within your organization?
- Have your third-party vendors implemented an effective cybersecurity management program?
How to Improve Your Security Posture
With the above in mind and knowing that hackers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, you need to ensure your security posture is as strong as possible. Here are the steps you can take to do that:
Assess Your Security Posture
You can’t strengthen your security posture if you don’t know where it currently stands. This makes regular assessments of your security posture a must. This assessment should include:
- Determining where and how your data is stored
- Identifying who has access to your data
- Evaluating the types of security risks, you face
- Evaluating the security risks your vendors pose
- Prioritizing your security risks
Track Security Metrics
To measure how effective your security measures are, it is important to regularly track key security metrics. This includes metrics that provide visibility in terms of the threat landscape, how well vulnerabilities and risk issues have been resolved and the effectiveness of security controls.
Create A Team to Manage Risks
Put into place a team that is responsible for monitoring the security posture of the organization. In addition, determine what the risks are in each department or area of the enterprise and assign managers to oversee the mitigation of those risks.
Implement Security Policies and Controls
Ensure you have in place clear and effective security policies and controls not only to detect and prevent cyberattacks but also to respond to and recover when an incident occurs. This includes having a solid communication plan in place and determining who will lead the response.
Educate Employees
Make sure every one of your employees understands the potential security risks they face, the consequences of a breach or attack, and how they can prevent these from happening. This education should begin the moment employees are hired and should include training on how to recognize the different types of attacks, such as social engineering and phishing, and how to avoid falling prey to these attacks.
Contact Platinum Technologies today to find out how we can help you ensure you have a strong security posture to your organization is as resilient as possible.
