Everyone has a role to play in cybersecurity

When was the last time you thought about your role in cybersecurity, or is it simply something that you think is somebody else’s responsibility?

But when it comes down to it, cybersecurity is about people—like you and me—applying the basic principles of online protection across all our digital identities. Cybersecurity requires diligence, but common-sense solutions go a long way toward reducing risk. According to this Digital Defense Report, we can protect against 98 percent of cyberattacks by practicing basic security hygiene. If you have access to a digital device, you play a key role in protecting yourself, your family and friends, your employer, and your communities from digital threats.

Digital transformation, cloud computing, and a sophisticated threat landscape are forcing everyone to rethink the functions of each role on their security teams, from Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) to practitioners.

With billions of people around the globe working from home, changes to the daily practice of cybersecurity are accelerating. Organisations are shifting from defending a traditional network perimeter (keeping business assets in a safe place) to more effective zero trust strategies (protect users, data, and business assets where they are). This transformation brings technology changes and also opens up questions of what people’s roles and responsibilities will look like in this new world.

At the same time, continuous delivery models are requiring security teams to engage more closely during business planning and application development to effectively manage cyber risks (vs. the traditional ‘arms-length’ security approaches). This requires security professionals to better understand the business context and to collaborate more closely with stakeholders outside of security.

2021 has been a watershed year in cybersecurity. Post pandemic and we continue to see new challenges as attackers take advantage of overstretched security teams to unleash new human-operated ransomware, malware, and nation-state attacks like those against Colonial Pipeline² and JBS Food³. With the move toward hybrid and remote work, security professionals have found themselves with more endpoints to manage and secure. Meanwhile, threat actors are exploiting gaps anywhere they can. Practicing basic cyber hygiene—applying security patches and updating software and apps—is a simple way to empower your organisation.

Security for all begins with education.

Employees are still falling prey to phishing scams at alarming rates. It’s important that #becybersmart engages with everyone from individuals to corporations, empowering all of us to protect our online life and create a safe world for everyone.

Begin from the bottom up, engage with your employees while organising your security team. What challenges do you face as a business? While each organisation and each person will have a unique journey to play when adapting a structure to optimise successful transformation, there are tasks and duties that all employees must engage with to help secure your organisation.

KBS will help you discover just how vulnerable your business, with free IT Security Assessments that will give you a full visual on your business.

Interested in speaking with us. We’d love to chat.