Business continuity focuses on maintaining critical enterprise-related functions not only when there are emergencies but even after these have been handled. Traditionally, a business continuity plan would take into account potential interruptions in business operations brought on by natural calamities, disease outbreaks, cyber attacks, fires, etc.
With the pandemic having hit all business operations, many organizations are focusing on deploying their business continuity plans or BCP to make sure their operations are intact. The pandemic has affected operations, employees, and supply chains. It is while doing this that businesses have realized what the shortcomings are. So, this exercise has helped businesses to identify all areas where there is scope for improvement. This will help entrepreneurs minimize risks of future events and prepare for how this current global pandemic will evolve.
Businesses have been in a major hurry to implement remote working for employees; as a result; failing to apply controls needed for non-corporate devices. In the meantime, cyber criminals have been working harder to target vulnerabilities of WFH practices. As staffs of IT teams and cyber security teams have also been reduced in the light of the pandemic, the problem becomes more severe.
Ways To Include Cyber Security In Business Continuity:
- Engage the cyber security teams: To ensure integration of cyber security measures in business continuity solutions it is imperative to involve the enterprise’s cyber security teams. They can highlight the key areas of concern and this ensures that all of these are taken into consideration.
- Deploy basic controls: You have to implement fundamental controls like remote working policies. So, MDM or mobile device management or VPN technology etc must be incorporated. The BCM and cyber security officials must work in collaboration as far as procedures, technology investments, and responsibilities are concerned. It is important to set up emergency crisis-communication protocols for company leaders and this should include multiple independent communication channels.
- Handle emergency access: You need to make sure that access if provided to interims or third parties in the event of a crisis or emergency. This must be an integral part of any BCP.
- Implement Automation: You can make use of automation to ensure that all important cyber security tasks will continue to be performed even when there is a crisis. It is essential that automated trading gets full protection from cyber attacks. For example, Bitcoin is traded widely through automated trading bots without any manual intervention. Visit https://kryptoszene.de/bitcoin-robot/bitcoin-revolution/ to learn more about automated crypto trading.
- Thorough Testing: Like any form of business continuity measures, events and plans must be put to test whenever possible and as often as possible. This will allow you to understand if the solutions are still appropriate or if these need to be tweaked.
- Look out for phishing: It is imperative to minimize risks of phishing because these are rampant whenever there is a crisis situation. You must plan for the worst possible outcome as far as detection, recovery, and improvements of both business continuity and cyber security are concerned. This means ensuring that data backups are in place and secure to protect against myriad attacks and facilitate quick recovery. You must assume that network defenses will get breached in the event of a cyber attack. To reduce the impact of such a breach, you have to segment the network resources so as to limit lateral movements. Deploy intelligence within the perimeters to detect malicious activities; you can do this by investing in robust security intelligence platforms and AI-supported systems.
- Embed Security: All security officials must be asked to participate in business continuity planning sessions to make sure that all effective measures are being undertaken at every level.