5 Minutes Read By Erik Gibson

How to Ensure Effective Cyber Security at Your Organization

#Digital Strategy#Growth Strategy#Business Services

In our ever-increasing connected lives, cyber security is becoming increasingly important to organizations, due to the risks of cyber threats and data breaches. Therefore, it is important that businesses have robust cyber programs in place, but relying on policies and technologies to protect businesses is not enough. Organizational leadership and culture are essential to supporting an effective cyber security program.

 

Leadership and Culture

Leadership plays an important role in ensuring the cyber security of an organization, leading by example and thereby demonstrating their commitment to making security a top priority. There must also be a real commitment to investing in security initiatives, particularly in training and technology, to support teams in mitigating security threats in an ever-evolving risk landscape.

Regarding culture, as the late Peter Drucker stated: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”, which applies to cyber security too. A positive culture, which values security will motive employees to be much more aware and proactive in reporting and responding to potential security incidents. Whereas a negative or indifferent culture creates an environment where cyber security is not taken seriously and can lead to damaging results when cyber-attacks do occur.

 

Open Communications

Leaders can also support a positive culture by promoting transparency and open communication relating to cyber security. This is particularly relevant when incidents do occur, and even if the incident was caused by the actions of an employee. Leadership needs to ensure that there is an environment where employees are encouraged to report an incident as soon as possible without fear of reprisal, which could prevent an incident from escalating.

Awareness

Given that over 80% of breaches in the past year involved the human element, having leadership promoting an ongoing program of training and awareness is critical. Effective cyber security training should provide practical and relevant skills to employees on how to identify and respond to security threats. Apart from formal training, regular awareness should be provided on various cyber security topics such as social engineering, phishing and other online threats.

Furthermore, organizations will benefit from applying best practices to support their cyber security programs. This would include performing regular assessments of their cyber security to help identify vulnerabilities and areas of improvement. In order to ensure a robust cyber security program, ongoing monitoring of logs can help identify issues and applying tested incident response plans can mitigate the damage which a cyber incident could have to the organization. If the worst-case scenario does come to bear, it is important that a tested business continuity plan is ready to be implemented, so that organization can continue to operate after a damaging incident.

 

Driving a Successful Security Program

At OMMAX, we understand the importance of providing a cyber security strategy which meets the strategic needs of- and enables organizations to maintain a positive cyber security culture. We can support you in identifying your current security maturity and will provide a roadmap and plan to ensure that all aspects of cyber security work in cohesion. Starting with your people, to advising you on how to apply appropriate processes and technology which will help protect your organization from the damages caused by cyber threats.

By Erik Gibson

Contact an expert

Do you want to know more about our experience in transaction advisory? Get in touch!

Industry Insights

Digital Transformation in SMEs: Strategy First

Digital transformation is a buzzword that has been echoing in the corridors of businesses worldwide. But what does it truly mean for Small and [...]

Industry Insights

ESG in Business: Why Governance Holds the Key to Sustainability

In today's investment arena, ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) has emerged as a significant keyword. This framework is instrumental in [...]

Industry Insights

Strategies for Insurtechs: Unveiling Superior Digital Services

In the dynamic digital world, major insurance giants such as Lemonade, Next Insurance, and Zego are ramping up their offerings. Coupled with [...]

Industry Insights

AI, Luxury & Ecommerce: Insights from Maria von Scheel-Plessen

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology advances, its potential to provide competitive advantages to businesses continues to expand. Among many [...]

Case Studies

The DISTRELEC Case

Distrelec is a leading European B2B distributor of electronic and technical components with around 400 employees. Beyond its main markets of [...]

Case Studies

The WAGO Case

WAGO is an internationally leading supplier of connection and automation technology and interface electronics, as well as the global market leader in [...]

Case Studies

The KLAFS Case

KLAFS is the leading sauna manufacturer in Europe in the premium segment. In 1952, Erich Klafs delivered the first Erich Klafs Sauna, the first [...]

Case Studies

The BHS tabletop case

BHS tabletop AG is a mid-sized German company with around 750 employees, established in 1998. The company is a leading manufacturer and supplier of [...]

Sign Up for the Newsletter

Development and Execution of a Customized Digital Growth Strategy