What Is Cybersecurity Management?

Here are six tried-and-tested best practices for cybersecurity management.

Effective cybersecurity management requires in-depth knowledge of the IT environments and resources within your firm, including all data and other digital assets, BYOD devices, systems, networks, third-party services, technologies, endpoints, and other relevant items. 

Awareness of all the elements of your IT landscape is critical, especially because each facet of your network can be used to penetrate your system. Also, it is imperative that you assess your assets and monitor your IT environment continuously.

Managing risk without a well-thought-out and effective cybersecurity risk management strategy is counterproductive. Organizations must create sound strategies and plans to keep them up-to-date. 

Prior to planning, determine your level of risk tolerance and then create a risk profile. Include roles for all employees and key stakeholders, incident response and escalation strategies, and other relevant information.

Even well-crafted cybersecurity risk management policies and processes are useless if they are not properly implemented throughout the firm. So make sure to convey your ideas, plans, and procedures to all parties involved. Integrate cybersecurity risk management within the values and culture of the company. Each party involved in managing cyber threats needs to be aware of, understand, and embrace their responsibilities.

Risk identification and assessment are two of the most crucial components of risk management. Risks associated with cybersecurity are always changing. A change in company procedures or the introduction of new technologies, for example, can change your risks significantly. As a result, the organization's general risk assessment has to be adjusted. To ensure effective security, your procedures must be continuously assessed for deficiencies—and improved.

Risk assessments are also critical because they provide the business with information about where vulnerabilities currently exist, as well as which threats are on the horizon.

Effective risk mitigation requires a security system that is both comprehensive and user-friendly. Here are a few techniques:

1. Use a web application firewall (WAF) managed and situated at the network's edge to keep track of traffic, offer immediate and actionable information, and continuously protect against known and unknown threats.
2. Extend security to BYOD devices and all other hardware in your IT environment.
3. Implement stringent security procedures for remote employees.
4. When possible, use automatic patching to keep all security systems up-to-date.
5. Implement stringent access controls and authentication policies.
6. Consolidate systems and data whenever possible. Data that is segregated and dispersed is more difficult to manage and secure.
7. Set up a consistent, reliable backup system.

Visibility into all areas of your network is critical to preventing and mitigating cybersecurity incidents. Factors like insider threats, third-party components with built-in vulnerabilities, and human error can endanger your environment. Real-time and trustworthy visibility into your organization's risk profile is essential.