Cybersecurity is no longer a “them” problem; it’s an “us” problem. Companies can no longer bury their heads in the sand, rationalizing that cyber incidents only affect certain industries or certain types of businesses.
The reality today is that cyberattacks have become an existential threat to any organization that can no longer be ignored or minimized.
Doing so could open the door for a cyber incident, resulting in potentially significant consequences, such as: compromised data, operational disruption, legal costs, reputational damage, customer defections, and lost revenue.
As of 2024, a data breach in the United States averaged $9.36 million dollars; globally, the average cost per data breach was $4.88 million.
Cybercriminals don’t discriminate based on the size of the company, however. Businesses of all sizes are fair game.
It may surprise you to learn that employees of small businesses experience 350% more social engineering attacks than those at larger companies. In addition, 43 percent of all phishing incidents involve small and medium-sized businesses.
The financial impact of a significant cyber incident on small to mid-size businesses can range as high as $25,000 to $3 million; however, about 95% of small businesses fall within the $826 to $653,587 range for such costs. The numbers speak for themselves. Most small to mid-sized businesses can little afford to absorb such devastating financial blows.
After reading this article, you will have a firm grasp on the evolving ways cyber thieves maneuver their way into your IT infrastructure through hidden vulnerabilities to cause harm. You will also learn how to assess your risk and strengthen your IT environment by developing a security plan.
Finally, you will understand the importance of budgeting and allocating the appropriate resources to ensure you meet regulatory cybersecurity mandates to keep your business well positioned and running smoothly.
Is My Company Safe From A Significant Cyber Incident?
Here are the 5 most common cyberthreats and organization vulnerabilities:
1. The most prevalent method for cyberthieves to infiltrate an organization is through email. In fact, it is widely reported that approximately 90 percent of cyber incidents originate from an email, usually in the form of a phishing scam using malicious links or attachments.
Phishing is only one type of social engineering scheme.
Related: Article: Top 3 Cybersecurity Threats For Small Businesses (& How To Stay Safe)
2. Ransomware is a form of malware in which cybercriminals gain control of your organization’s critical data and encrypt it. They then hold the information hostage by either withholding it or threatening to make it public unless they receive payment.
These ransom payments can be hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of dollars. Those costs don’t include those ancillary expenses we mentioned earlier, including reduced profit margins, lost production, and legal expenses.
3. Mobile security attacks are a type of social engineering scheme where cyber crooks have created apps in official and unofficial app stores that appear legitimate. The fake apps then trick people into granting device access and permissions once downloaded.
In this way, hackers can gain access to your contacts, emails, photos, and other sensitive information stored on your devices.
4. Remote/hybrid work environments create multiple vulnerability points. For instance, documents shared with colleagues through file-sharing services may not be protected through the same encrypted network server used to protect such sensitive information in the office.
Weak passwords, unsecured WI-FI networks, outdated equipment such as routers and laptops, and the use of personal devices are all potential pathways that could lead to a cyber incident.
5. Cloud security is another avenue organizations can be exploited due to a host of factors, such as poor access management, misconfigurations, and lack of visibility.
With a growing number of companies becoming reliant on cloud hosting for storage and computing, these and other oversight security loopholes offer an area of weakness that could leave your business susceptible to being taken advantage of.
What is a Security Plan and Why Do I Need One?
Organizations need to take proactive measures to fortify their IT environment against possible threats. The first step is to thoroughly examine and inventory your company’s entire IT landscape, physical and virtual.
The next step would be to create and implement a comprehensive information security management (ISM) plan. This plan will detail how your company maintains data security, monitors threats, and responds to incidents.
You can use this internal IT review as the basis for your written Systems Security Plan (SSP). An SSP is an exhaustive document that minutely details the transmission, storage, and processing of sensitive information within your organization.
An SSP fully explains a company’s security systems and the controls in place to meet regulatory compliance.
Related Article: What Is A NIST 800-171 System Security Plan (SSP) & How To Create One
Contractors and subcontractors that do business with the Department of Defense have had to create SSPs as part of NIST 800-171 standards.
Those standards are being used as the foundation for tighter security measures rolled into the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) requirements for all contractors and subcontractors that handle Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) and Federal Contract Information (FCI).
The updated CMMC requirements cleared the final approval hurdle last week, and pending a 60-day Congressional review, will become law.
Furthermore, the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) mandates that all U.S. government agencies and all parties doing business with those agencies create an SSP under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP program).
The program sets the requirements for the assessment, authorization, and monitoring of cloud products services across the federal government.
An SSP requires either a self-assessment or an on-site assessment performed by a Certified 3rd Party Assessment Organization (C3PAO), depending on the type of data you handle. The 3rd-party assessors will use each company’s SSP as a critical component of its evaluation and findings of compliance.
Why Should I Budget For Implementing Security Controls?
By identifying vulnerabilities, businesses can effectively budget for the right security controls, ensuring compliance with regulatory frameworks and requirements.
Completing a thorough self-assessment of your company’s entire IT landscape will help you pinpoint any gaps in your security infrastructure. You can then take any necessary remediation in order to meet compliance standards.
Your security budget will also factor in the cost to regularly monitor and assess your IT environment to ensure continual compliance.
Ultimately, having an adequate budget to evaluate your IT systems, create an SSP, and correct any security gaps will ensure regulatory compliance that you maintain your existing contracts and will improve your chances of winning new ones.
Related Article: IT Budgeting: A Planning Guide
What's The Bottom Line?
Having read this article, you now know what some of the most common cybersecurity risks are, the potential impact they can have on a business, and why it’s important to evaluate your IT landscape and budget sufficiently to proactively address cybersecurity issues.
While no one can predict when or how a cyber incident might happen, there is no debating the necessity of fortifying your entire information technology infrastructure to avert or minimize future intrusions.
Making sure you have an SSP is not just about ticking a box, it’s about ensuring your organization has the right policies, procedures, and technology in place to safeguard sensitive government information.
Furthermore, it paves the way for a smooth compliance process, helping your business retain current government contracts and position itself as a leader in securing new ones.
Regardless of where you are on your path toward creating your SSP, it will become clear whether your IT team has the know-how to ensure compliance, or whether you’d benefit from collaborating with an external IT service provider.
Only you can decide if you have the internal resources you need for success. Our experience has shown that companies that are successful at developing an effective SSP using internal staff typically have the following characteristics:
- a large enough internal IT team that several of them can pull away for an extended period to hyper-focus on the SSP without impacting your internal IT support needs and
- certified cybersecurity experts on staff who have prior cybersecurity compliance experience.
If your company doesn’t fit the above criteria, working with an outside consultant may offer advantages by avoiding common mistakes that could compound the time and cost involved in reaching compliance.
If you decide to explore options for external IT support, we encourage you to compare several providers so that you find one that is the right fit for your organization. We take this advice so seriously that we’ve even done some of the legwork for you.
See for yourself how Kelser and one of our competitors (Charles IT) compare based on publicly available information from the websites of both organizations. We know it’s different that we offer head-to-head comparisons, but the truth is that each organization has strengths.
Be wary of any external provider that comes in assuming they know what’s best for you without even having a conversation about your business, your goals, and your current technology pain points.
Kelser has helped businesses like yours become compliant with a number of standards and frameworks (NIST, CMMC, HIPAA) over the years. Our staff knows what you're going through and how to get you to your goal of compliance.
Use the button below to start a conversation with us about any questions you have about NIST 800-171 or CMMC certification or other compliance topics.
