With cyber attacks on the rise, organizations face increasing threats to their infrastructure, supply chains, brand reputations, and revenues.
82% of global breaches involve the human element, highlighting the critical role that every individual, from cybersecurity teams to executive decision-makers, plays in defending against these attacks.
In today’s rapidly evolving threat landscape, it is essential to ensure that teams are well-prepared and equipped to handle the next cyber attack.
In a recent webinar, I sat down with Chris Grundemann, Analyst at GigaOm, to discuss the current landscape and share best practices for mitigating emerging threats.
The inadequacy of tech stacks and traditional training
While technology solutions are crucial, relying solely on tech stacks to address cyber threats is insufficient. Similarly, traditional cybersecurity training that focuses solely on technical skills falls short when dealing with new and emerging threats.
To effectively confront these challenges, organizations need to shift their focus toward empowering their workforce with the right capabilities, knowledge, and judgment to respond effectively to attacks.
Recognizing the Human Element
By understanding attack patterns and techniques, cyber leaders can empower their teams to detect and respond to threats effectively. Rather than fixating on specific tools, organizations should prioritize recognizing and mitigating attack patterns, enabling a more proactive approach to cybersecurity.
Prioritizing resilience over specificity
Cyber leaders should emphasize building cyber resilience over planning for specific attacks or vulnerabilities. Resilience allows organizations to respond effectively to a wide range of threats, even in the face of constantly evolving attack techniques. By focusing on understanding techniques and training teams to identify indicators of compromise, organizations can enhance their ability to quickly detect and mitigate cyber threats.
Empowering the workforce
To ensure readiness and response capabilities, organizations need to provide continuous training and education to their workforce. This includes creating a safe reporting environment where employees can alert security teams to potential threats without fear of repercussions.
By involving executives and fostering collaboration between cybersecurity teams and leadership, organizations can bridge skill gaps, improve response times, and enhance overall cyber resilience.
In today’s dynamic threat landscape, a people-centric approach to cybersecurity is essential for building cyber resilience. By recognizing the human element, understanding attack patterns, prioritizing resilience over specificity, and empowering the workforce, organizations can effectively prepare for and respond to cyber attacks.
Embracing this approach will not only enhance the organization’s security posture but also cultivate a culture of cyber awareness and readiness across all levels of the organization.
To learn more from my conversation with Chris, listen to the entire webinar here.