Is Cybersecurity The Responsibility of One Business Function or Department?

Is Cybersecurity the responsibility of one business function or one department?

Such as the IT Services or IT department.

No!

It is an organization-wide responsibility.

Some time ago when I attended a lecture on Cybersecurity, the speaker shared that Cybersecurity stands on three pillars - The People, The Processes, and The Technology.

For some reason, organizations focus all their energy on the processes and technology whereas the people part gets ignored.

This proves to be a costly mistake, as people also play a very important role, in any organization.

And this is the topic of our article today.

We are making an attempt to put forth the idea of making Cybersecurity as part of the culture of the organization, rather than doing it one day, someday!

The culture of a company is defined in very many ways.

Culture, to define briefly, is the values and/or standards that define the work environment.

It could also include attitude and behaviour too.

It’s about how a company treats its employees and what they can expect at the workplace.

Here are the examples of a good value system, such as a workplace that encourages - 

• Collaboration (teamwork)

• Connectedness (information sharing)

• Happy and progressive environment (fun-filled and joyous)

• Right attitude and behaviour (treating fellow employees with respect)

• A sense of belonging (as employees spend 8 hours of their time)

• And so on

These are amazing values and encourage the employees to be a part of the company, as a result, productivity is high and the attrition rate is low.

What would a culture with Cybersecurity as one of the values look like?

It would be all about having the right attitude, beliefs, and behaviours of employees when it comes to protecting their digital assets and data.

On the same lines, Brands also should enforce a strong cybersecurity culture because it helps - Create Awareness and  Instill responsibility among employees to prioritize cybersecurity practices.

How to go about it? How can brands promote a strong culture of Cybersecurity? Here are some of the actions to focus on-

1. Senior Management Support and Drive: Any change has to start from the top. Brands should have strong leadership support for Cybersecurity initiatives. They should lead by example by following proper security practices themselves. For example - the latest updated antivirus on their system, is the simplest one to start with.

1. Employee Training: Regular training sessions should be conducted to educate employees about cybersecurity risks, best practices, and their role in maintaining a secure environment. This could include topics like password hygiene and periodic password change, recognizing phishing attacks, secure browsing, regular security-related patches and updates of the systems in use, etc.

1. Compliance: Brands should comply with various standards and regulations about the industry they are in. For example - Those in Healthcare and dealing with patient data should adhere to HIPAA. 

1. Policies and Procedures: Brands should have well-defined cybersecurity policies and procedures in place that are communicated to all employees. These policies should cover areas such as acceptable use of technology, data protection, incident reporting, etc. These policies should be easily accessible as documents for reference.

1. Periodic Assessments and Audits: Conducting regular cybersecurity assessments and audits helps identify vulnerabilities and potential risks. This allows brands to take corrective actions to strengthen their security measures.

1. Incident response plan: Brands should have an incident response plan in place to handle security incidents effectively. Employees should be trained on how to report incidents promptly and the necessary steps to take.

1. Continuous monitoring: Implementing systems and tools to monitor the network, detect anomalies, and respond to potential threats can help brands proactively identify and mitigate security risks.

1. Collaboration and communication: Encouraging open communication among employees about cybersecurity concerns, sharing best practices, and promoting a sense of responsibility for the collective security of the organization.

2. Identify Champions: Brands should identify cybersecurity champions within departments and leverage their reach to keep this culture alive and working.

As you see, Cybersecurity is a collective responsibility, and building a strong Cybersecurity culture requires ongoing effort and commitment from one and all within a brand.

While these are great practices to have in place, there are a lot of questions that crop up.

How can the senior leadership drive cybersecurity initiatives within a brand?

How do we design and deliver cybersecurity training in an organization when everyone is too busy meeting their project deadlines and deliverables?

How to enforce policies and procedures for maximum effectiveness?

And the list goes on.

This is where we come in with our team of experts.

Feel free to reach out to us.

We promise to keep it confidential!