As an organization or company, you likely outsource your IT security to a group or team of professionals that help you plan out and manage your IT needs. This can be everything from disaster recovery to malware and hacking prevention. When you outsource security, you’re hiring somebody to coach you through the policies you need to put in place and the technology you need to implement for those policies.
However, there’s only so much outsourced security can handle; if you make a policy decision that inadvertently puts your organization at risk—like allowing employees to download programs, browsers, extensions, etc. on company computers—an outsourced security resource can only install software that can catch and block threats as they’re detected.
This method will never be perfect, never be 100% effective. At the end of the day, the responsibility falls on you to ensure the safety of your organization and decide how strict you are going to be with the policy for your network.
The Role of Internal Policies in Enhancing Outsourced IT Security
The implementation and enforcement of these kinds of policies are the only things that can supplement the work done by an outsourced security resource, and close in on 100% effectiveness.
Working around various compliance standards when developing your cybersecurity policies can be daunting, but fortunately, that’s where your IT resource can help you navigate the rules and develop a plan. We at Attentus have a standards library for various compliance standards, including things like HIPAA compliance, for just that purpose.
However, it’s your job as a leader in your organization to make decisions around those rules and the enforcement of those rules.
The biggest thing missing from most organizations is an actual written policy that employees are trained on and is understood to be important. If employees are trained and understand not to click suspicious emails, download unsafe browsers or other software, and other IT safety strategies, then that closes a significant number of gaps in your security that your outsourced IT resource will never be able to truly address.
How do manufacturing companies deal with rising cybercrime?
Poorly. Many, if not most, organizations hand off their IT management to the least expensive person that claims to be capable. Often this person does not have the experience or deeper understanding of IT needed to properly manage IT security and protect against cybercrime.
Less than 6% of data loss events can be traced to catastrophic events (massive hacks, ransomware, natural disasters, etc.) that would require disaster recovery services; most data loss events and breaches are tied to human error—an employee that clicks on a bad link. If your network permissions aren’t well defined, and access to data isn’t properly restricted, it’s relatively easy for a hacker (or an aggravated worker) to gain access to critical data and either encrypt it for ransom (ransomware) or delete it entirely and potentially ruin your business.
A common way this could happen to a regular employee is if that employee receives an email with a link to “www.banksofamerica.com”. Did you see it? That sneaky “s” in the middle of the URL can be easily missed by an employee who thinks it’s an otherwise innocent or legitimate email from their bank. But that website could have software or extensions that let the owner gain access to the user’s account information, and from there have access to your organization’s network.
At the end of the day, it’s impossible to outsource 100% of your IT security, because you need to train your employees to be careful and respect strict organizational policy. Train for safety, or work with a robust IT security resource like Attentus. Interested? Book an introductory meeting today!
