Cyber Security Strategy development

A cybersecurity strategy will be tailored to your unique cyber security needs based on your industry vertical, compliance requirements and remote working policy.  Additionally, it will align with your business goals and objectives.

Understand the cyber threat landscape.

The organization’s industry vertical, the infrastructure type (on premises, on the cloud, or hybrid set up) whether or not it uses remote working will determine its exposure to cyber threats.

Before we start our cybersecurity strategy development first, we understand your business and the cyber threats it is likely to face.  This will be done by studying past security incidents, common incidents against other businesses in the same industry vertical and threat intelligence feeds.

Assess the status of current cybersecurity program.

We assess current cyber security program in place and its maturity level, resource availability, regulatory requirements and budgets in addition to other factors. We start with an inventory of an organization’s IT infrastructure and the types of data that it collects, stores, and processes. We also assess if there is any process or function that is outsourced.

After identifying the assets and data, we perform a cyber-security risk assessment to determine and associated threats and risks.  Then we can start a gap analysis process to determine the current security controls against what is required to protect those assets based on the level or risk, the risk appetite and compliance requirements.  

Use Security frameworks and standards.

We use cyber security standards and frameworks as a guidance to implement security controls and develop an effective security strategy the organization.

Which standard or frameworks we choose depend on the goals of its security program and the regulations that mandate how the business should secure sensitive data. For example, healthcare information is protected under (HIPAA), payment card data falls under the (PCI DSS). Compliance with data privacy laws like GDPR or CCPA may also be required. The strategy may also use standards such as ISO 27001, SOC2 or NIST CSF which include a number of security controls and best practices.

Usage Prevention Methods

The cybersecurity strategy will focus on threat prevention in additional to threat detection. The strategy will close the security gaps and eliminates the potential risks. We will use threat prevention solutions that enable your business to identify and respond to attacks in a swift and organized manner.

Design a Cyber Security Architecture.

A cybersecurity architecture will be designed based on security best practices and the chosen framework. The architecture will include Zero Trust model, and Defense in Depth. The architecture will include physical security controls, logical security controls and administrative security controls. It will include end to end solutions that include people, process and technology.  

Consolidate Security Infrastructure

The strategy will include a consolidated security architecture. The security operation team can monitor and manage their security operation from a single location and additionally they should use SIEM, XDR or SOAR solutions. This provides improved visibility, better performance, efficient coverage, lower total cost of ownership and increased automation in responding to security incidents. This can be done in house but most likely for a startup or SMB it can be outsourced through MDR service.