Cybersecurity Culture: Why Is It Important for Businesses?

Do you have a cybersecurity strategy outlining how your company will recover following a data breach?

Not too long ago, many businessowners would have scoffed at the idea. No one thinks they need cybersecurity untill they fall victim to black hatter attacks.

Fast forward to today. As employees adopt the in-office and remote workhybrid model, organizations have been forced to digitize their operations.

As more companies move online, the need to protect highly-sensitive digital property has never been greater. Keep reading to learn how creating a proactive cybersecurity culture benefits your business.

Cybersecurity Culture; What Is It and Why Is It Does It Matter?

Cybercriminals have evolved dramatically over the years. They use incredibly advanced tools to carry out blatant cyberattacks on companies.

Criminals employ social engineering tactics to psychologically manipulate unsuspecting employees into revealing sensitive company information.

With the nature of attacks escalating, setting up a firewall or installing antiviruses to “protect” your networks won’t suffice. You may still have other vulnerabilities you’re unaware of.

When it comes to cybersecurity, being proactive rather than reactive prepares you to deal with related consequences should you fall victim to disruptive malicious activity.

The best defense is an effective cybersecurity culture. While most companies have a robust cybersecurity plan, not all employees know how to spot a technology-based intrusion, let alone report one.

Creating a strong cybersecurity culture means a company has offensive tactics in place, such as continuous employee security training.

With strategic cybersecurity procedures and tools at play, employees can spot and report suspicious activities during targeted phishing attempts.

So, why is creating a cybersecurity culture important for businesses?

• It enables early detection because you better understand how your current business environment and profile stack up against future cyber risks.
• Ongoing employee training means teams have better odds of identifying and resolving glitches in your database, such as malicious codes.
• While no company is 100% immune to cyber threats, the potency of a cybersecurity culture lies in its inherent proactivity in perpetual monitoring.
• Continuous monitoring, in turn, allows for swift responses in the event of a successful cyber-attack, effectively preventing costly business disruptions.
• With a cybersecurity culture, you’ll have the necessary resources to neutralize a threat, whether a minor crisis or a large-scale security catastrophe.
• When cybersecurity is a top priority with your employees, it can positively impact your company’s overall efficiency and protect your brand’s reputation.
• Finally, a cybersecurity strategy and culture helps your business maintain rigorous cybersecurity compliance and best practices within your niche. Combined with Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), a cybersecurity culture helps mitigate risks and builds trust among your loyal customers while helping you stay ahead of the curve.

Now that we’ve established the importance of having a cybersecurity strategy, let’s address potential challenges you might face when creating a cybersecurity culture.

Challenges of Creating a Cybersecurity Culture

Data breaches are estimated to cost companies approximately $400 billion annually, cites Fortune. Investing in employee cybersecurity training is a worthwhile investment that may prevent you from becoming a statistic.

When employees know the risks involved, they’ll be less inclined to human errors that result in data breaches. Additionally, arming teams with the proper knowledge empowers them to act confidently when tackling daily threats and occurrences.

Here is an example of an issue that may challenge your efforts building a cybersecurity culture.

If you’re like most companies who have digitized their operations and transitioned to a work-from-home model, new security issues will start become apparent.

With the hybrid work model, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) to work has become the new norm. Employees who are uninformed about various hacker capabilities won’t utilize any security measures, making a breach much more likely to occur.

Without cybersecurity training they’ll use BYODs to check their work emails on insecure public Wi-Fi networks.

Conversely, teams who’re aware of potential data breaches and ransomware threats will keep them from making mistakes that threaten your organization’s cyber safety.

A cybersecurity strategy, in this case, should be a 3 to 5-year plan that outlines how your company will secure its assets. Some of the roadblocks you may encounter include:

• Lack of experienced personnel to fill specialized security roles and protect your organization’s digital property.
• Building a cybersecurity culture may prove challenging, especially when integrating threat intelligence but you don’t have holistic visibility into your current security status.
• The ever-evolving security threat landscape and the cost of integrating new technologies may challenge your preparedness or lack thereof.
• Lack of manpower and necessary resources to have an effective incident management process.

Perhaps you IT staff is stretched thin. Or you’re still on the fence about outsourcing third-party IT management for round-the-clock cyber monitoring and defenses; here’s a good place to start.

Best Practices: How to Create a Cybersecurity Culture

Companies today have a lot riding on cybersecurity protocols, and being lax about your security is asking for trouble.

Rather than arbitrarily trying to prevent attacks, developing a formal cybersecurity culture is the ultimate means of systemizing and organizing your security efforts.

The following are five steps of making cybersecurity culture an ongoing focus in your company.

1. Define your company’s cybersecurity scope to understand your cyber threat landscape. Determine the types of cyberattacks that make you vulnerable such as malware, insider threats, phishing, etc.
2. Assess your company’s cybersecurity framework, from security policies to backup and incident recovery capabilities, including security technologies and ongoing training. Your goal is to reinforce your new security objectives.
3. Establish a baseline then determine how you want your cybersecurity program to look in three to five years.
4. Everyone in your company has a role to play in mitigating security issues. Therefore, keep teams updated on new cybersecurity policies, awareness, and training efforts.
5. Reporting and monitoring security should be an ongoing process. Carry out annual cyber security assessment programs to help maintain and improve your company’s cybersecurity.

There are endless technical and financial implications, including reputational damage that can stem from a preventable cyberattack. The right cybersecurity culture can promote good cyber-hygiene, but for it to have an impact, it should start with you, filtering down to your team.

Make cybersecurity a priority and hold ongoing cybersecurity training while enforcing security protocols across the board.