As threats to data security become more widespread, the need to standardize solid cybersecurity measure in also becomes more crucial.
In a recent report by CyberSecurity Ventures, it was revealed that global annual cybercrime will grow from $3 trillion in 2015 to $6 trillion annually by 2021 – encompassing damage and destruction of data, stolen money, lost productivity, theft of intellectual property, theft of personal and financial data, embezzlement, fraud, post-attack disruption to the normal course of business, forensic investigation, restoration and deletion of hacked data and systems, and reputational harm.
With the whopping amount of damage that they can cause, it’s safe to assume that hackers these days don’t seem to bother selecting their targets – even a local café could suffer from the same detrimental effects of a data breach as bigger companies.
The key to ensuring effective cyber security in business starts with secure communication framework. By keeping all the communication channels of your business secure, you’ll be able to make sure that all data being sent by your employees in and outside your business premises is protected against unauthorized access and manipulation.
Here are few ways to achieve a secure communication framework in your business.
1. Ensure Buy-in From Key Stakeholders of the Business
The first and most important step in achieving secure communication is to make sure that all the stakeholders in the organization are on the same page and accepts that cyber security is a serious matter you cannot afford to ignore.
These stakeholders include
- Cyber security team
- Outside incident response team,
- Chief Information Officer, Chief Security Officer
- Business executive management (CEO, CFO, COO)
- General Counsel
- Board of Directors
- Employees and support staffs
2. Develop Clear Security Policies
Based on a risk assessment conducted by your cyber security team, you must quickly develop policies for communication. These policies govern exactly who can access, use or receive which type of content, and who will oversee enforcement actions for violations of these policies.
These policies should cover key security topic issues as:
- Security risk management
- Critical asset management
- Physical security
- System and network Management
- Authentication and authorization
- Access control
- Incident management
- Awareness and training
- Privacy
- Vulnerability management
- Ensure that the intent of each policy is reflected in the standards, procedures, practices, training, and security architectures that implement it.
3. Establish a Monitoring and Enforcement Team
Having a separate team who will monitor and enforce communication policy adherence is crucial to the protection of confidential information assets being communicated over various channels. There must be control point in place to track information usage and traffic, so you can verify compliance with information distribution policies and perform enforcement actions for violation of those policies.
With the amount of electronic communication taking place in modern businesses, your chosen communication platforms should have a monitoring system that will allow you to detect failed access of password hacking, stop unauthorized app usage, and track service availability to ensure high SLA compliance.
Use a Secure Enterprise Text Messaging Platform
The need for a reliable and secure text messaging app is often overlooked in many companies and organizations. With 80% of professionals currently using text for business-purposes, it’s only imperative for companies and organizations to have their employees use secure messaging service for all work-related purposes.
As mobile workforce continues to rise, using a platform that will allow an employee to communicate work-related details with his/her colleagues with less risk to data theft is a way to achieve productivity in the workplace as well. With this platform, you will be able to monitor all the conversations being sent through the app, and remotely delete the message if ever the user’s device gets lost or stolen.
These added benefits make it possible for your workforce to work collaboratively outside your business without running the risk of being intercepted by unauthorized users.
Protecting confidential information doesn’t start in your enterprise database but on communication channels that connect with it, such as your mobile messaging app. To protect your valuable and sensitive business data, everyone must understand their roles in maintaining cyber security in the workplace, and uphold their duty on ensuring safe and secure communication at all times.
