The coronavirus pandemic has made one thing pretty clear that cybersecurity is the new black that will remain relevant as long as small businesses or medium sized corporations are working online.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses cannot rule out the importance of cybersecurity when it comes to protecting their digital existence against different cyber threats.
In this age of uncertainty, the cybersecurity framework has turned out to be one of the most viable options that help businesses grow without compromising their online security.
This post will let you know what the cybersecurity framework is all about and how businesses can create cybersecurity frameworks themselves.
What do you mean by the cybersecurity framework?
When we talk about a cybersecurity framework, it is a properly written document describing some of the most fruitful cybersecurity practices businesses can abide by to control their cybersecurity risks or threats.
It provides IT professionals a clear direction needed to secure businesses from the consequences of cybercrimes.
How can businesses create a cybersecurity framework?
If you want to develop a cybersecurity framework for your business, you should follow the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) cybersecurity framework because the said framework is simple to comprehend and easily applicable.
Apart from this, the framework helps you better prepare businesses to combat different cyber risks timely. Beside, it also allows businesses to recover from cyberattacks using the right approach.
There are five main elements of NIST cybersecurity framework including:
- Identify
- Protect
- Detect
- Respond
- Recover
Identify
The first element of the cybersecurity framework explains the importance of understanding the workplace in terms of systems, data, other resources, etc. As a result, businesses can deal with cybersecurity risks in the right direction.
Protect
As the name suggests, the second element of the framework relates to the proper implementation of cybersecurity measures to reduce the negative impacts of potential cybersecurity incidents.
In addition to this, businesses should concentrate on using efficient cybersecurity tools such as a business VPN. For instance, you can try NordVPN to comprehensively safeguard your business against numerous cyber threats like malware, phishing, ransomware, etc.
Luckily, you do not have to spend a single penny as you can get NordVPN at zero cost using its impressive free trial feature. Hence, you can check its other useful security features that do not allow hackers and other cyber goons to keep an eye on your crucial business data over the web. Once you are satisfied with the performance of NordVPN, you can subscribe to its premium package as per your preferences.
Detect
According to this function, you should apply cybersecurity strategies to identify or explore possible cyber incidents proactively. In this scenario, businesses should take help from experts like ethical hackers that perform advanced penetration tests to find security vulnerabilities in their networks.
Respond
Respond is the fourth element of the cybersecurity framework that allows businesses to create effective response plans. It means businesses should develop response plans that help them minimize the consequences of cyber incidents significantly.
Recover
Recover is the last function of the cybersecurity framework but the most crucial one. As per this function, businesses have to develop and implement such approaches to recover from a particular cyber incident on time.
In short, businesses should back to the normal situation once they have experienced data theft or any other cybercrime.
How can employees play their role in making the cybersecurity framework successful?
Small business owners are not only responsible for making the cybersecurity frameworks successful. In reality, the practical application of cybersecurity guidelines and other procedures is a challenging task that requires dedication from the employees’ side. For that purpose, they can follow different cyber hygiene practices to enhance cybersecurity frameworks’ usefulness in their workplaces.
Importance of cyber hygiene practices
Employees or support staff are responsible for protecting their crucial official data including customers’ information, communications with the customers, etc. all the time.
For example, they can secure such sensitive data from the prying eyes of cyber terrorists using trustworthy cloud services. Cloud services aside, they can consider opting different cybersecurity tools and solutions including encryption software, password managers, firewalls, antivirus software, etc.
Besides, you should be wary of a dangerous email phishing attack that can inject malware or viruses into your official devices instantly. Therefore, you should refrain yourself from clicking the links or attachments provided in the suspicious emails.
Wrapping Things Up
Establishing the cybersecurity framework for your business, whether small or large, has become a need of the hour. When you implement a robust cybersecurity plan within your workplace, you can bypass numerous security risks like hacking, phishing, malwarbre, ransomware, etc.
As we are living in this age of the coronavirus crisis, every business needs to follow these above-mentioned five crucial steps to protect their official devices and other resources against malicious threats like identity theft, unauthorized access to businesses’ networks appropriately.