Is your business cyber secure? A preparedness checklist for today's top threats

By Isaac Kohen, Vice President of R&D at Teramind< em>, provider of behavioral analytics, business intelligence and data loss prevention ("DLP") for enterprises.

Cybersecurity is big and expensive business for all businesses. Whether you are the head of a multinational, a small or medium-sized company or an SME, cyber threats are always at your fingertips.

Most people understand the immediate financial risk of a cyberattack or data breach. Incredibly high numbers are often plastered on front-page headlines, making it abundantly clear what's at stake. According to the latest industry data, companies can expect to spend over $4 million to recover from a data breach, a substantial price that seems to increase every year.

Of course, the repercussions go far beyond the immediate monetary costs. Reputational damage, which is difficult to quantify, negatively impacts everything from brand loyalty to future customer acquisition. At the same time, the opportunity costs of a cybersecurity incident further increase business expenses.

That's why it's worth asking the question again, "Is your business cyber-secure?" The answer is critical, so here's a preparedness checklist for today's top threats to help answer that question precisely.

1. Employees can identify and defend against increasingly sophisticated phishing scams and social engineering attacks.

Threat actors send over 3 billion phishing emails every day. While many are unconvincing, ineffective, or blocked by spam filters, some will arrive in employee inboxes where unsuspecting or unprepared employees can provide cybercriminals with direct access to data or IT infrastructure. of the company.

Together, phishing is the most common cause of data breaches, and malicious messages are increasingly difficult to detect. Many phishing emails no longer contain the glaring spelling or syntax errors that were once telltale signs of fraud. Instead, cybercriminals leverage billions of compromised records to create compelling, authentic messages that put businesses at risk.

In addition, threat actors are expanding their efforts beyond email, targeting people with SMS messages (known as smishing) and other methods, forcing companies to better prepare their employees to react.

Fortunately, the phishing awareness training is working. When coupled with digital accountability measures that ensure people follow cybersecurity best practices, such as enabling two-factor authentication and using strong, unique passwords for all accounts, businesses can be confident that a single email will not cause a significant cybersecurity incident.

2. A ransomware response plan is in place and tested.

In 2022, it is simply inexcusable for businesses to operate without a ransomware response plan. Threat actors are taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime disruptive moment, capitalizing on pandemic-related uncertainty, geopolitical strife and economic turmoil to launch devastating ransomware attacks against the government...