How to build an effective cybersecurity program in nine steps

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are the author’s alone. BARR Advisory, which has offices in Kansas City, is a cloud-based security and compliance solutions provider, specializing in cybersecurity, is a financial partner of Startland News.

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A strong cybersecurity program is an essential component of running a business, especially when the number of data breaches and security incidents is increasing exponentially. Without a security program, you leave your company, customers, and data at risk.

Let’s explore the components of a cybersecurity program, and walk through a step-by-step guide on how you can implement one. 

Think about your organization’s information security policies, procedures, standards, and guidelines. Together, these elements create a documented cybersecurity program by outlining how your organization plans for and acts when it comes to security management. The purpose of the program is to make certain the data you’re responsible for is safe — meaning your organization ensures three vital principles: confidentiality (secured from unauthorized access), integrity (accurate and free from tampering), and availability (accessible in a timely manner) of its private data. 

Step 1: Build an Information Security Team 

Before you begin this journey, decide who needs a seat at the table. One side of the table holds the executive team, made up of senior-level associates responsible for crafting the mission and goals of the security program, setting security policies, establishing risk limitations, and more. On the other side of the table sits the group of individuals responsible for daily security operations. As a whole, this group designs and builds the framework of the security program. 

Step 2: Inventory and Asset Management 

With your team assembled, their first job is to understand what assets they have and where those assets are located, ensure the assets are tracked, and secure them properly. In other words, it’s time to conduct an inventory of everything that could contain sensitive data, from hardware and devices to applications (internally created and third party) to databases, shared folders, and more. Once you have your list, assign each asset an owner, then categorize them by importance and potential risk or cost to your organization should a breach occur. 

Step 3: Assess Risk 

To assess risk, you need to think about threats and vulnerabilities. Many organizations perform vulnerability scans against their systems. While an important input, keep in mind that your risk assessment does not stop after the scan. Start by making a list of any potential threats to your organization’s data, then categorize and assign values (high, medium, low) to these threats based on their level of danger. From there, think about what vulnerabilities exist within your organization, then categorize and rank them based on potential impact. These vulnerabilities can consist of people (employees, clients, third parties), processes or lack thereof, and technologies in place. 

Look at the two lists you’ve created and find where threats and vulnerabilities may intersect, showing you where your greatest levels of risk exist. A high-impact threat with high vulnerability becomes a high risk, for example. A trusted advisor like BARR Advisory can provide assistance with putting together a risk analysis like this.

Step 4: Manage Risk 

Now that you have your risks ranked, decide whether you want to reduce, transfer, accept, or ignore each risk. 

• Reduce the risk: Identify and apply fixes to counter the risk (e.g., setting up a firewall, establishing local and backup locations, purchasing water leak detection systems for a data center). 
• Transfer the risk: Purchase insurance for assets or bring on a third party to take on that risk.
• Accept the risk: If the cost to apply a countermeasure outweighs the value of the loss, you can choose to do nothing to mitigate that risk. 
• Avoid the risk: This happens when you deny the existence or potential impact of a risk, which is not recommended as it can lead to irreversible consequences. 

Step 5: Develop an Incident Management and Disaster Recovery Plan 

Without an incident management and disaster recovery plan, you put your organization at risk should any security incident or natural disaster occur. This includes things like power outages, IT system crashes, hacking, supply chain problems, and even pandemics like COVID-19. A good plan identifies common incidents and outlines what needs to be done—and by whom—in order to recover data and IT systems. 

Step 6: Inventory and Manage Third Parties 

Make a list of vendors, suppliers, and other third parties who have access to your organization’s data or systems, then prioritize your list based on the sensitivity of the data. Once identified, find out what security measures high-risk third parties have in place or mandate necessary controls. Be sure to consistently monitor and maintain an updated list of all third-party vendors. 

Step 7: Apply Security Controls 

You’ve been busy identifying risks and deciding on how you’ll handle each one. For the risks you want to act on, it’s time to implement controls. These controls will mitigate or eliminate risks. They can be technical (e.g., encryption, intrusion detection software, antivirus, firewalls), or non-technical (e.g., policies, procedures, physical security, personnel). One non-technical control you’ll implement is a Security Policy, which serves as the umbrella over a number of other policies such as a Backup Policy, Password Policy, Access Control Policy, and more. 

Step 8: Establish Security Awareness Training 

Conduct frequent security awareness training to share your information security plan and how each employee plays a role in it. After all, new security measures and policies do nothing if employees working with the data are not educated on how to minimize risk. Any time an element of your security program changes, your employees need to be aware. And be sure to document and retain evidence of training for future auditing purposes. 

Step 9: Audit, Audit, Audit

The best way to determine the effectiveness of your information security program is to hire a third-party auditor to offer an unbiased assessment on security gaps. In some cases, this is mandatory to confirm compliance. Third-party assessors can also perform vulnerability assessments, which include penetration tests to identify weaknesses in your organization’s networks, systems, and applications, along with audits against criteria such as ISO 27001, PCI DSS, FedRAMP, and HITRUST; as well as SOC 2 reports using the AICPA Trust Service Principles. Your company can also conduct internal audits to assess controls, policies, procedures, risk management, and more. 

BARR’s expert consulting team has experience building strong cybersecurity programs for organizations at all growth stages. Get started today.