New year, new threats. It seems with every passing year, cyberattacks are becoming increasingly more common and infinitely more complex. The cost of cybercrime is expected to hit $9.5 trillion this year, and the fact that 75% of security professionals observed an increase in cyberattacks over 2023 tells us that this is a widespread problem showing no signs of slowing down.

 

So, in this exciting new year, what resolutions can you as an organization undertake to truly level up your security posture? Of course, the resolutions most likely to be followed are the ones rooted in reality. 

 

Well, the reality is that cybersecurity budgets are nowhere near what they should be, especially when considering the potential impact of a breach. Yet, finding a way to incorporate the following 8 resolutions will go a long way towards creating a comprehensive cybersecurity scenario for your organization. The best part is, iValue Group has holistic solutions for each and every one of these resolutions.

 

Resolution #1: Close the Gap

 

The fact that a data breach in India costs an average of 17.6 crores points to a lot of gaps in the general cybersecurity adoption scene.

 

A gap analysis involves the process of identifying gaps between the current state of a company’s IT process and its desired future state. The whole exercise helps identify the strengths and weaknesses of your current cybersecurity measures, and formulates ways to achieve effective resource allocation while addressing all vulnerabilities. 

We go about gap analysis in an extremely methodical way: 

Defining goals —> Gathering data about the current state —> Establishing the desired future state —> Analyzing the gap between the two —> Brainstorming solutions —> Finalizing & Implementing them

 

Resolution #2: Keep All Parties Safe

 

As more and more organizations find it beneficial to outsource parts of their operations to third parties, the need of the hour is to translate your cybersecurity posture onto them as best as possible.

That doesn’t seem to be happening at the current moment, because while 84% of organizations host critical or sensitive assets with external parties, 80% of them say third-party risks are identified only after onboarding.  This means that prior due diligence when it comes to risk management is sorely lacking.

The solution for this is a concise third-party risk management framework (TPRM) that assesses, monitors and minimizes third party cyber risks. Vendor assessments, risk scoring and compliance audits are just some of the components our solution provides, to mitigate negative consequences like:

• Internal outages causing lapses in operations
• External outages creating supply chain vulnerabilities
• Operational shifts that affect data gathering, storage & security

 

Resolution #3: Get Cyberinsured

 

As mentioned earlier, breaches can cost your organization a lot of money up front, and that’s before getting into the further negative financial implications from the loss of reputation. This is why cyberinsurance is gaining increasing prominence.

 

Before you think of it as an unnecessary cost borne by your organization, consider the peace of mind it provides, specifically the comfort of knowing your business can financially recover from a successful cyberattack. Additionally, seeking out lower premiums can inadvertently encourage robust security policies in your organization.

 

We provide a complete, end-to-end cyberinsurance package that covers:

• Breach response services, like computer forensic experts, legal counsel & PR specialists
• Extortion expenses for ransomware demands
• Lost income & operational expenses
• Liability coverage for private breaches, malware transmission and media cover

 

Resolution #4: Staying Away From Phishy MFAs

 

Reality check: today’s attackers don’t hack in, they log in. Another reality check: they definitely know a way around the OTPs and push notifications you normally use to login.

 

It’s not enough to incorporate MFAs these days – they also have to be phishing resistant. Our MFA platform integrates Yubikey, a physical security key that incorporates modern FIDO authentication. Plugging this key to your laptop or phone will ensure secure logins for your email, social accounts, banking sites and a lot more.

 

Organizations that adopted our solution saw a 92% reduction in support calls, but more importantly, a whopping 99.9% of attempted account takeovers were foiled because of this MFA’s efficacy.

 

Resolution #5: Start (Life)cycling

 

As applications become increasingly complex, it becomes critical to manage the entire app lifecycle to avoid delayed releases from disjointed systems. 

The solution? A solid application lifecycle management (ALM) software that creates traceability, visibility and automation across all phases, from design to deployment.

Our solution allows you to ship secure, quality software rapidly through these three tenets:

• Smarter Planning: Full visibility allows you to plan agile stories and epics efficiently across teams
• Faster Deliveries: Testing is accelerated through reusable libraries, auto-help infrastructure and automated deployments.
• Mitigated Risk: Built-in end-to-end security allows you to trace issues quicker and fix bugs cheaper.

 

Resolution #6: Demystify the Cloud

 

60% of the world’s corporate data is on the cloud, yet 80% of organizations don’t have dedicated cloud security teams. It’s disparities like this that can cause your cloud to be susceptible to misconfigurations, data leaks, insider threats and malicious AI.

A tightly-wound cloud security plan covers aspects like vulnerability identification, strong identity controls, data encryption in both transit & rest and round-the-clock monitoring, detection and response to threats.

Thankfully, we have all of these in our solutions, and more:

• Asset Discovery & Posture Management
• Workload & Data Protection
• CASBs, DLP & Next-gen cloud firewalls
• Ongoing auditing & compliance reporting

 

Resolution #7: Protect Their Data

 

Parts of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 are already in effect, including key chapters involving data collection, use, security and individual rights. So, if you hold a significant amount of your customers’ sensitive data, better adhere to these regulations or risk paying a fine upto 250 crores.

That’s a lot of money – instead, you can spend significantly less money and get one of our Data Privacy & Protection plans, which normally cover:

• Audit consent collection & management processes
• Data identification & classification
• End-to-end encryption and access controls
• Localization-compliant data flow mapping
• Early threat detection and contingency plan

 

Resolution #8: Stop Being Vulnerable

 

Sometimes, the fact that you’re too close to something can totally blind you. This was happening with Vulnerability Assessments before it got paired up with Penetration Testing, which provides an external, unbiased fresh pair of eyes to your security situation. Turns out, getting attacked (in this case, deliberately) is the best way to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

 

The best VAPTs in the industry,  like ours, leverage cutting-edge methodologies to provide:

• End-to-end security services, which involve assessing and managing vulnerabilities and threats
• Tailored bundles curated to your organization
• Expert Practitioners across web, mobile, networks and other infrastructure

 

There we have it, then – 8 realistic resolutions that set you up for a cyber-resilient 2024. And if you’re looking to make any of these resolutions a reality, you know where to find us. (Hint: it’s here.)