I’d like to share with you a few facts that every IT leader should take to heart. Cybercrime is more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined. Ransomware attacks occur every 14 seconds, and attackers can go undetected for 90 days on average. Add an additional 27 days’ remediation time from the date of the attack, and you’ll see how one simple breach can affect a company for nearly half a year– not to mention the months on average it takes to litigate and repair the damage. As for brand tarnishment, poor customer outlooks and reputation damage can last forever. We outlined some of the facts and figures for your 2023 cybersecurity outlook in our last blog post– take a minute to check it out.
All that said, it’s time we re-evaluate our cybersecurity in 2023, adopting a modern outlook and approach to protecting ourselves. I encourage you to dive into a factual narrative of risk, mitigation, and protection– tuning out the buzz from millions of vendors and outlets trying to capture your attention. Let’s talk facts.
Anatomy of an Attack
An attack can be internal or external. An internal attack has several risk factors and vectors, like emails, firewalls, downloads, lost devices, and social engineering. Internal attacks can be accidental– password sharing, wifi vulnerabilities, and human error can offer entry points into your business.
External attacks often exploit human nature with phishing and scareware or utilize popular hacking methods like DDos, APT, and Ransomware in order to steal private information (and often sell it).
Attackers can begin through your ISP, crawling through multiple layers of cloud or on-prem security measures and systematically gaining access through your chain of servers and applications to steal your data. They may even take down backup servers in order to render your organization helpless.
No company is exempt from the risks of a cyberattack. As figures climb and predictions roll in for 2023, it is becoming increasingly obvious just how important proper and proactive cybersecurity will be, with global cybercrime costs surpassing $23.84 trillion by 2027.
The Risks: Real or Perceived?
The list of risks for a cybersecurity attack is unbelievably long. Attackers can enter from anywhere– home or public wifi networks, downloads or hardware (like planted USB drives), open source vulnerabilities, third party providers… virtually everything you need to run a business and manage an IT department. Chances are, you’re dancing with risk 24/7– as long as you’re running a network and storing data anywhere in the world.
Ask yourself this: do you, as an organization, have a real or perceived risk on your hands? You likely do. Do you acknowledge the possibility of an attack or incident? You definitely should. And do you want to proactively stop it or be left with a mess on your hands during remediation down the line? Hopefully, you’re ready to plan ahead to strike down incidents– and if so, you may need to think of threat mitigation and response a little differently.
When Proactive Isn’t Proactive Enough
When you picture a cybersecurity attack, you’re probably picturing a scene from a movie, with sirens going off throughout the office and red lights flashing overhead. If only it were that easy to identify when something goes wrong. Unfortunately, you may already be under attack, or at least in the early stages, with no indication that anything is awry– and that’s even scarier than imagined.
As you know now, it can take three months to detect an attacker in breach. That’s three months of a bad actor lying in wait, creeping through the holes in your security posture, and taking stock of your private data. By the time you’re in the thick of an incident, finding help can be difficult– and finding immediate help can be nearly impossible. Proactivity is the only way to stop a risk from becoming an incident. By the time you know you’re under siege, it could be far too late to contain the damage.
Leaning on cybersecurity insurance, halfhearted security measures cobbled together in-house, or out-of-date technology like on-prem backups and riddled firewalls can be equally as moot as relying on luck alone. Hackers have access to state-of-the-art technologies and consistently research vulnerabilities and security measures– do you?
Chances are, you’re looking at relying on a third party to handle your cybersecurity. As we’ll discuss, this can be tricky, especially in the era of cloud computing.
The Cloud: A New Frontier of Trust in Cybersecurity
You may be operating on public or private cloud, hybrid or colo, but chances are, you’ve got a foot in the door, utilizing cloud on some level and in some aspect of your operations. If you aren’t yet, you will be soon, as cloud becomes a prerequisite for utilizing numerous applications and enhancing the productivity and agility of your organization.
Today, virtually all on-prem security has vanished. The sweeping migration to cloud has necessitated a new level of trust in providers. When utilizing aaS security solutions and cloud-delivered applications, we’re forced to trust that our providers have the tools, measures, and expertise in place to protect our data.
Some companies are utilizing disparate cloud providers, meaning that not only must they rely on multiple entities to meet their security needs, but they must also ensure that their security standards and measures flow through both. Reaching a synergistic balance between cloud providers, and being choosy with who you put your trust in, is critical to maintaining a proactive security posture.
Trust in TMG and Cut Through The Noise
We founded TMG with a simple mission in mind: to help you cut through the noise in IT and get the most value out of your technology acquisition partnership. As you browse cybersecurity options, you’ll be bombarded with similar marketing tactics, language, and promises: as Grandview states, “the global cybersecurity market was valued at $202.72 billion in 2022 and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.3% from 2023 to 2030.”
Within that gigantic market are enterprises taking up sizable shares and mid-size to boutique firms clamoring over what’s left. All in all, it’s a lot of loud voices and a lot of questionable facts, inflated figures, sales pitches, bids, and conversations to sift through on your own.
As your technology acquisition partner, TMG helps you vet all of the available vendors, presenting only the best options for your business. We narrow down your search to the top candidates and empower you to make choices that add the most possible value to your business. With us on your side, you can be sure that your cybersecurity vendor meets strict standards, has an excellent track record of service and results, and will properly protect your organization against a litany of threats.
Don’t go at it alone in 2023– the risks are just too high. Tap TMG today to learn more about finding the right cybersecurity solutions, MSPs, and more.
