The Importance of Building Security into Processes

Oct 24, 2021

Anytime new processes are considered by companies, many industries are focused on how the process will be created, developed, and implemented to solve needs or pain points in the market. One area of focus that is often overlooked is security measures being built into the process. In today’s world, security, particularly cybersecurity, needs to be an area of hyper-focus for any new implementation. You may think this primarily affects technology companies, but businesses that collect proprietary information should build security into their processes. Business leads should factor security into the decision-making in every business department, including storage of customer information, HR files, accounting records, and more.

As has been seen in numerous headlines worldwide, cybersecurity, hackers, and ransomware are becoming more prevalent. Even the most innocuous products and processes are utilized by exploiting vulnerabilities to enable these attacks. The results of these attacks are millions of dollars in real and virtual costs to businesses in the forms of ransomware payments, lost productivity, recovery efforts, and much more. Companies need to assess their cybersecurity risks and make intelligent choices about their network infrastructure from the start based on the nature of their business and the sensitivity of the information involved. By focusing on security in the initial development phases, these risks can be avoided. 

When companies consider implementing improvements to network infrastructure, these best practices should be utilized:

• Two-factor authentication
• Frequent password resets
• Strong password requirements
• New device authentication
• Encryption
• Restricting internal access to sensitive information
• Vulnerability testing
• Limited time access before password re-entry
• Limiting collection and storage of unnecessary personal information

By utilizing these best practices, the network infrastructure is built to sustain cybersecurity threats from the start. Although building security into processes is important, re-assessment of security mitigation needs to be a part of the update process. Every year new methods of hacking and cyber abuse are constantly being developed. At the same time, new cybersecurity methods are also being developed to counter these new attacks. As most processes involve people, users' training and prevention of exposure of vulnerabilities must be included in the process development work. In many instances, employees' innocent misuse of processes or lack of security presence of mind exposes vulnerabilities, leading to hacking and ransomware activities. All new processes need to include training in the use of new processes focused on security. This training should consist of preventing some of the most common methods of attack, such as phishing attacks, social engineering, and general cyber awareness.

With the advent of remote work and work-from-home, these cyber security risks to both products and processes have increased. No longer do companies have the luxury of assuming that the high security of the in-building networks will keep the company safe. Additional safeguards and focus must be implemented to protect data integrity and company systems and networks from outside interference. Remote workers and their access to company networks and data need to receive significant additional attention. Use of advanced VPNs, employee tokens, and other security countermeasures need to be employed. Additionally, the use of personal devices by employees must be closely monitored. Employee phones and tablets need to have measures where critical data and access can be remotely managed and deleted in the case of lost or stolen devices.

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has urged organizations to implement cybersecurity measures to protect against cyber threats given the recent malicious cyber incidents in Ukraine. The CISA publishes a list of known security vulnerabilities that all companies should review often. The CISA has also published a checklist of ways to reduce the likelihood of a damaging cyber intrusion. This checklist provides concrete actions that organizations can take immediately to:

• Reduce the likelihood of a damaging cyber intrusion
• Detect a potential intrusion
• Ensure the organization is prepared to respond if an intrusion occurs
• Maximize the organization’s resilience to a destructive cyber incident

Cyber risk is not going away. Only through constant vigilance can these threats be thwarted and avoided. Companies must have a strong cybersecurity focus when developing new processes. The risk from employees, remote workers, and personal devices must be constantly monitored. Security updates to products and processes need to be scheduled regularly to keep up with the advent of new and novel risks. Security must be a constant focus and top-of-mind to a company's well-being. Want a free risk assessment of how your network security performs? Reach out to Omni Data partners at 203-387-6664 or by email at learnmore@myomnidata.com

Are you looking for the malware statistic from our social posts? A new study shows that 91.5% of malware arrived over encrypted connections. 

As of 3/7, four new threats have been observed: HermeticWizard, HermeticRansom, and IsaacWiper, and a spear-phishing campaign dubbed Asylum Ambuscade.

This page was last edited on 3/14/2022