It is common to talk about cybersecurity in terms of firewalls, cloud protection, micro-segmentation, and the like. But at the forefront of every cybersecurity strategy is the fundamental concept of risk posture. An organization that doesn’t understand its risk posture does not have a clear path forward for maintaining an effective cybersecurity strategy.
Do the decision-makers in your organization understand the organization’s current risk posture? If not, the chances are fairly high that you’re facing unnecessary security risks. Hillstone Networks can help. We can come alongside to assess your risk posture and then recommend appropriate solutions.
Risk Posture Basics
Risk posture is a term that describes an organization’s cybersecurity readiness. Think of it as an assessment. It is an assessment that looks at nearly every facet of network and cloud security with the goal of understanding how an organization can defend itself against threats, respond to those threats, and recover when security breaches occur.
A proper risk posture assessment is broken down into four major components:
- Security Controls – An organization’s security controls are essentially all the hardware and software tools currently in place. Security tools and processes exist to safeguard networks, cloud environments, data, and apps.
- Management Strategies – An organization should have a clear cyber security plan in place, supported by relevant and comprehensive policies. This includes defining roles and responsibilities in relation to decision making.
- Recovery Response – In the event of a security breach, an organization needs to be prepared with an adequate recovery and response strategy. The physical ability to recover is also important. This ties into disaster recovery procedures, data backups, etc.
- Security Culture – Humans are the weakest link in the cybersecurity chain. Therefore, fostering an effective security culture is an important part of maintaining a proper risk posture.
Maintaining a strong risk posture minimizes threats. It equips an organization to respond accordingly when threats are realized. And in the event a successful breach does occur, an organization needs to both respond effectively and recover quickly.
A Proactive Approach Is Best
How many organizations discover an inadequate risk posture only after a breach has taken place? Responding to breaches with improved security strategies is obviously necessary, but isn’t it better to be proactive rather than merely responding after the fact? Being proactive is the Hillstone Networks approach.
Hillstone Networks relies on a variety of tools and procedures to help companies improve their risk posture. If your organization is managing things in-house, the following strategies could help you improve your organization’s risk posture:
- Vulnerability assessments.
- Penetration testing.
- Routine security audits.
- A risk management framework.
Penetration testing is especially attractive because it can immediately reveal vulnerabilities that would otherwise remain hidden until after a successful breach. Penetration testing can simulate cybersecurity attacks with surprising realism.
It Shouldn’t Be a Question
Improving your organization’s risk posture should not be a question at this point. The benefits of a strong risk posture are abundantly clear. They start with a reduced risk of successful cyber-attacks. In addition, a strong risk posture:
- Minimizes damage when breaches do occur.
- Improves regulatory compliance across jurisdictions.
- Protects an organization’s bottom line.
- Protects an organization’s reputation.
Threat actors are out there. They launch untold numbers of cyber-attacks every day. The big question for your organization is this: what is your risk posture? Whether you need help assessing it or your organization is looking for better solutions, we invite you to contact Hillstone Networks.
Hillstone relies on the latest and best solutions and strategies for hardening organizations against cyber-attacks. We can help you boost your risk posture for better security.
