The rise in cyber attacks has raised awareness in companies of all sizes about the need to make cybersecurity a priority.
In tighter regulatory environments, most organizations understand that cybersecurity is not just an IT problem, but rather a mission-critical part of doing business. But to create the best strategy that keeps up with the growing threat landscape, companies must first understand their cybersecurity readiness.
The best place to start is to perform a cyber threat assessment. This compels companies to take a hard look at their cybersecurity policies, practices and technology solutions with all their strengths and weaknesses.
A cyber threat assessment is, essentially, an investment into a more sustainable cybersecurity plan because it helps to focus efforts on the biggest vulnerabilities — which can save your customers time and money.
Cyber Threat Assessments Improve Visibility
Just like a tax audit is essential in making sure there are no red flags, a cyber threat assessment can evaluate a company’s regulatory compliance preparedness, as well as its capabilities and vulnerabilities related to data protection. It gives your customers better visibility into factors, such as:
- Security and threat prevention: Understanding the vulnerabilities that impact the network, detecting presence of malware and botnets, identifying at-risk end points and assessing the probability of a security breach;
- User productivity: Understanding how apps such as peer-to-peer, social media and instant messaging affect security and how to balance control and flexibility;
- Network utilization and performance: Testing and monitoring the throughput, session and bandwidth usage requirements during peak hours to optimize for best performance.
Cyber Threat Assessments Mitigate Risk
It’s important for your clients to know that it’s better for them to learn how prepared they are for advanced persistent threats via an audit rather than through a breach. Without a thorough understanding of the effectiveness of their current policies, procedures and defense technologies, spending more money on cybersecurity is a poor investment.
Recent research has shown that the average cost of data breaches globally in 2014 was $3.8 million, on average, per incident — an increase of 23 percent from the previous year. At an average of $145 cost per lost or stolen record, the financial damage can build up quickly — and that’s to say nothing of the damage to the company’s brand and reputation.
While cybersecurity practitioners understand that breaches cannot be completely prevented, an assessment can help create a preparedness response plan that mitigates incidents quickly and efficiently.
Give Customers The Facts
In today’s ever-evolving threat landscape, being proactive is the only way to ensure processes are working they way they should to protect data. An experienced outside auditor can take an impartial look at cybersecurity operations, identify the best control tests and ensure the appropriate audit protocols are addressed in your customers’ complex IT infrastructures.
A partner of global network-security leader Fortinet, Fine Tec can support your efforts to get your customers the facts about their network security. Ask us how to conduct an audit that improves visibility into customers’ security, productivity and performance — without interrupting operations.
Learn more at the upcoming webinar with Matti Blecher on how to accelerate sales with Fortinet’s Cyber Threat Assessment Program. May 04 @ 10.00am PST. Click here to register.