The number of cybersecurity threats is almost infinite. One report says that 360,000 new pieces of malware were detected every day last year; others put the daily new malware tally as high as 1,000,000!

The number of potential solutions to your information security isn’t quite as high, but you can’t just throw security tools haphazardly into your organization and be protected. You need to develop a cybersecurity strategy that considers the threats to your business and their potential impacts and then invest rationally in solutions that offer you real value.

Protect Against the Real Risks

First, figure out where you’re really at risk. Not all of your applications and data require Fort Knox-levels of security. It’s the personal information of your customers and your intellectual property that have the most appeal to hackers and the most cost to you if they’re stolen, so that’s where your highest security measures should focus.

Once you know where your biggest risks are, take steps to protect those key assets. That means making sure sensitive data is encrypted and that access is controlled. Look at technical solutions including multi-factor authentication and internal firewalls, as well as low-cost procedural changes like ensuring permissions are appropriately reviewed. Make one change at a time and test it thoroughly before moving on; rushing implementations is likely to result in misconfigurations that can leave you less protected than you were before.

Make automation part of every deployment. This will ensure your security measures are deployed consistently and correctly, and free up your staff to work on the next project. Creating standards will also help make certain the deployments are correct. Limit the number of tools used to minimize confusion.

Don’t neglect training your staff, either. This is a relatively low-cost technique that can significantly reduce the risk that human error will allow malware into your network.

Know How to Respond to an Attack

Along with implementing defensive measures, spend some time planning how you’ll respond to a breach. With the rapid evolution of malware, there’s no way even the best cybersecurity can guarantee you won’t be hit. You need to invest in tools to help you detect a breach, evaluate its impact, and get things back under control. Disaster recovery planning isn’t strictly part of cybersecurity, but since ransomware can make your data inaccessible and distributed denial of service attacks can bring down your servers, those documents can be an important part of your response.

Cybersecurity Is An Ongoing Effort

Because the information security threats continually change, you’ll need to review and update your cybersecurity strategy at least annually. Make your spending effective by testing your critical applications for vulnerabilities. You can then focus your yearly spending on those priorities.

Prescient Solutions provides cybersecurity solutions to businesses in Chicago and Schaumburg. We have more than 20 years of experience offering complete IT consulting and managed services that meet the entire IT support needs for any organization. Contact us to learn how our services can help you improve your information security strategy.