How to Make Sure Your Organization Stays Ahead
by Tori Thurmond / February 20th, 2023
We know your organization is no stranger to security. In today’s world, with threats and vulnerabilities lying around every corner, you’re doing everything you can to prevent a disaster from occurring. But, do you ever wonder if you’re missing something?
It can be hard to feel secure when there are so many aspects of security to consider to best mitigate the risk your organization faces on a daily basis. One of the best ways to manage risk is to stay ahead. Keeping up just isn’t enough anymore. By working to stay ahead, your organization will be better prepared to face new threats and vulnerabilities confidently. We’ve compiled some of the best ways you can make sure your organization stays ahead of regulations and risk in this evolving industry.
You can control your environment, but are your third-party vendors managing theirs? Vendor management is one of the top areas to monitor within an organization. The number one risk to an organization is the people that are hired, the second greatest risk is the vendors. Make sure you really know who you’re working with. Have you ever met your vendors in person? Can you confirm that your vendors are providing good practices?
If you’re dealing with vendors who are working with your most valuable data, it puts you and your clients at risk. A vendor management framework can help determine if a vendor is ready to work with you and help you avoid unnecessary risk.
Having a set of regulations and guidelines for your organization’s security practices can help leaders within your organization decide what tools and systems are most applicable to your environment. You have to fully understand your environment to achieve security objectives.
Having a solid BCP should be a top priority when making sure your organization would be able to recover if a disaster occurred. Preparing for the inevitable threats that your organization will face will drive ingenuity and help your organization be proactive.
An important part of a BCP is a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP). In today’s threat landscape, you can never be too prepared for imminent breaches. By preparing a written plan for future disasters, you’ll be setting your organization up for success in the recovery process. Breaches are an unfortunate aspect of the cybersecurity industry, but with proper planning, bouncing back from an attack won’t be as difficult.
Data is the single most valuable aspect to any organization. Are you doing everything you can to protect it? There are countless ways data breaches and leaks can occur. A few of the most common reasons are:
- Weak Credentials
- Stolen Credentials
- Phishing Attacks
- Software Vulnerabilities
- Insider Threats
- Physical Attacks
- Configuration Mistakes
To best avoid these breaches, your data needs to be secured and encrypted through every level of its lifecycle, from creation and classification to destruction your organization needs to be diligent. For sensitive data to be properly managed, it needs to be delegated to and upheld by responsible parties.
Does your organization have a data privacy officer to help you uphold data privacy regulations? Or is the person upholding these regulations wearing multiple hats and responsible for more than just your data privacy? With data privacy regulations growing by the day, organizations need to take data management seriously by hiring a data privacy officer who can monitor the data your organization is responsible for.
Make sure security is a priority across all branches of your organization. Security teams and decision makers should value internal feedback regarding current security practices and expectations to better strengthen the organization’s security posture and to make security champions of all members of the community.
With threats and vulnerabilities growing as quickly as they are, security needs to be a year-round, company-wide effort instead of something only looked at by a few individuals when your annual SOC 1 or SOC 2 audit rolls around. If all members of an organization care about and contribute to your organization’s security, think about how prepared you’ll be to face the latest threats confidently.
At KirkpatrickPrice, we can help you stay ahead.
In the world of cybersecurity, something is always changing. Make sure your organization stays ahead by remaining proactive instead of reactive. Here are a few ways that you can actually stay proactive:
- Have your risk assessment reviewed
- Have a security scan performed on your cloud environment
- Have your information security policies reviewed
- Hire penetration testers to assess your security posture
Keeping up isn’t always easy, so finding a partner who is eager to work with you to face today’s threats is important. As a licensed CPA firm, KirkpatrickPrice specializes in information security audits and security assessments that can help protect your organization.
If you have any questions about how your organization can improve its security posture, connect with one of our experts today to learn more about our risk assessment services, security awareness training, and compliance audit services!
