You have control of your destiny. It may not seem like it at first but in the realm of cyber security, you certainly do have a lot of control of what happens to you and your company. Sure you may know about how to master or control your budget. You may know how to get your production numbers to increase over time. You may even have a good handle on your workforce. Even though people are sometimes considered the hardest part of management.
But the most vexing problem today is cyber security and what to do about it. You may never have an area of your company where you will have more control as well as more benefit for your money. Cyber security is an untapped potential of opportunity if you just get a handle on it. Control is about knowledge it is about discipline and measuring where you are at compared to where you need to be. All of these things are possible with cyber security.
Is It A Fire?
I used to know this fireman he lived down the street from me and he would always say he had to teach the younger firemen about how to put out fires. I would ask him “it seems pretty simple” and he would shake his head and laugh and then tell me what they were really doing. He said “young firefighters would always do the same thing in the case of a fire. “
“They would put the wet stuff on the red stuff.” He would tell me this and chuckle. Meaning that the firefighters many times would just put water on the fire when that is not necessarily what needs to be done, sometimes it was but sometimes not. And this is where he would come in; he would talk about fuel and oxygen, and different types of fires. I am no fireman but I know an analogy when I see it staring me in the face. And this could not apply better to cyber security.
Cybercrime is many times the red stuff and all of the money a company can haphazardly throw at it after there is an attack is the wet stuff. There are better ways to control your destiny. Just waiting for a fire and then put the wet stuff on the red stuff is no way to do it.
Who Has Control?
Control is about knowing where you are and where you are going. How do you know where you are? Well, you are not a cyber security expert, but your trusted advisor in cyber security issues is. Is he in a position where he can help you? Are you getting regular briefings and updates about where you are, and what are the threat levels? Are you getting regular security assessments to tell you for sure where your company is?
It is about giving your people within your organization the power and the leeway to help you keep your company safe because if you let them they will help tremendously. Are you training your rank and file employees on a regular basis? If not they will not be able to help you. Are you giving your IT departments the tools and resources to be able to proactively control your cyber threat landscape? With the right people, either in-house or outside you need to be actively scanning your world to keep it safe. Don’t wait for the fire to start, and then put the wet stuff on the red stuff. Get control of your destiny, there are many ways to do it today, And many people out there that can help. Don’t let the bad guys have the control.