In Focus Risk


Organisational resilience against cyber threats


How confident are you that your business is ready for a post-COVID-19 environment?


Dimitra Skoumpopoulou Senior lecturer, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University


During the COVID-19 crisis, there has been a significant increase in remote working, which is likely to improve organisational efficiency. However, the likelihood of cyber-


attacks and resulting frauds, damages, disruptions to organisations have also increased considerably. To manage the cyber threats efficiently,


organisations require built-in cyber resilience and prioritise resources in order to meet the increasing threat of cyber-related disruptions.


Resilience Cyber resilience is a measure of how readily an IT system can respond in a challenging online environment and survive in the face of an adaptive threat.


Raza Mohammad Assistant professor of mathematics, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur Pakistan


An organisation would be cyber resilient


if it has an ability to cope with unforeseen incidents, both malicious and accidental.


Steps Some general steps for promoting cyber resilience in an organisation may include: l Prepare well by identifying risks and vulnerabilities – different businesses often face different types of threats, it is important to know these threats and channel resources towards the most likely threats. It is often not possible to provide


protections against all threats so good knowledge of threats is needed in order to prioritise resources. Early detection of an incident limits the


Have systems and processes in place to detect data corruption and configuration anomalies – knowing when you have been attacked is a challenge in the cyber security context. Data configuration anomalies and data corruptions are often the first signs of an attack and warning for further attacks


38


damage caused. l Have systems and processes in place to detect data corruption and configuration anomalies – knowing when you have been attacked is a challenge in the cyber security context. Data configuration anomalies and data corruptions are often the first signs of an attack and warning for further attacks. Defences that protect from commonly


known threats (for example firewalls and antivirus software) will help improve your resilience. These will also help protect against attacks and outages using most up to date cyber security software systems.


Strategy The above requires development of a detailed cyber security strategy which would


www.CCRMagazine.com


Mahmood Shah Associate professor of information management, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University


include detailed policies, sound business planning and a clear chain of accountability throughout the organisation. A cyber resilience strategy can help


your business withstand cyber attacks and recover quickly. It can help you defend against those risks, protect your critical IT infrastructure (hardware, applications and data), and recover from breach or failure in a controlled, measured way.


Recovery Recovery from malicious breach or accidental failure requires backup systems and processes which can be employed after an attack. Since malicious cyber- attacks such as ‘ransomware’ could also compromise traditional backup systems, a provision must be made to configure effective firewalls between active file storage systems and backup drives. Good resilience requires involvement


of all stakeholders in resilience solution building and implementation in order to keep relevant people motivated and to deploy effective security measures. It also requires comprehensive training


programmes to maintain an awareness of threats and to ensure effective incident management. Peoples’ involvement in security planning and implementation as well as training can help create a positive culture which helps increase early detection as it encourages staff to report anything suspicious without fear of blame.


October 2020


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52