Why Your Organisation Needs To Review Its Security Policies
As organisations slowly recover from the last years of hardship, we find that many are ignoring one crucial element… their cyber security. We have seen a dramatic increase in cybercrime during the pandemic, which has been further escalated by the current war in Ukraine. Ultimately, the threat landscape as we know it has completely shifted, making it vital for organisations to review their security policies and make sure they can withstand incoming cyber-attacks.
The world has changed, and with it has the cyber criminals and the way they operate. We are seeing new waves of attacks, with hacking methods that are being constantly developed. Therefore, organisations need to stay up to date with these trends to ensure their security and avoid compromises. Therefore, updating your security policies is a necessity, and the first step to becoming a more secure organisation. And that’s exactly what we’ll take you through in this blog..
How has cyber security changed?
As the pandemic and lockdowns reached the UK, overnight businesses were forced to change their day-to-day operations, the way they communicate and how we collaborate. This rapid shift to working from home came with more complications than organisations initially thought. It opened the doors for cyber criminals to exploit new gaps in a business’s cyber security, while also taking advantage of the uncertainty amongst end users. With hundreds of devices needing remote access to a centralised data source, the possibility of a breach increased drastically.
For many organisations, security was the last thing on their mind, as the focus was on getting the businesses set up to working remotely and equipping everyone with devices so that they could work from home.
That’s why we now see businesses realising that this change, without the added security upgrades, has brought them new risks that have never been seen before. As a result, all organisations have to adapt to protect their vulnerabilities – and that has to happen now.
Why it is important to review policies and procedures
Your security policies are the barrier between you and the cyber criminals trying to do a cyber-attack. Whenever operations or processes change within your organisation, security policies should follow and continuously be updated and reviewed to ensure maximum security. Furthermore, any new device or team member brings an added security risk that needs to be made aware of cyber threats through cyber security awareness training.
Therefore, cyber security needs to be added to onboarding programmes and made a priority in the first few days of employment.
One of the other big changes we have seen recently is the overall move to the Cloud. Cloud migrations took a big jump as nations started to fully work from home (WFH), and had to collaborate across different locations. While the Cloud has many benefits and is an essential technology for modern businesses – going digital comes with added security risks. Ultimately, the more data we upload, the more data will be available in a potential breach. Therefore, when moving to the Cloud, it is essential to add the necessary security to keep your data protected.
What security policies need changing?
The trends around security are changing to the extend where we now see that over 80% of business owners states that their primary concerns are centred around “hardware and firmware-based security solutions”. This makes Cyber Security the #1 concern and priority for senior teams starting to plan for the new year and all the new projects that come with it.
Hybrid working is not going anyway, and no matter if your teams WFH 1 day a week – the correct security needs to be in place that allows them to do their jobs securely. This year the Cyber Essentials scheme even got amended to accommodate home working – further highlighting how important the cyber security of home working environments is. Read all about the changes to the Cyber Essentials scheme here.
Regarding hybrid working – one of the biggest complications we saw was employees working on outdated devices. To stay secure, most devices must be renewed every 4 years. After that, the software will often be outdated, which means it can’t be patched leaving them open to attacks.
What Redsquid can do for you
We have partnered with organisations through the Digital Transformation for the last 16 years and made cyber security our #1 priority when advising our customers. To aid our clients through the Digital Transformation, we provide them with the right information they need to strive as a business. With an ever-increasing threat level, that brings new daily attacks, so now is the time to review your security and prepare your business for the future.
Get in touch with our security team today, so we can review your security policies and set you up for success!
