Cybersecurity threats are growing daily, exposing companies of all sizes to malicious attacks.

Yet many businesses still don’t proactively protect customer and financial data, or operational systems from compromise or damage.

If your organization is a small or mid-sized enterprise, it may be tempting to think you’re not a target for hackers or cybercriminals.

However, the statistics tell a different story –

• 43% of cyberattacks target small businesses
• 60% of the companies victimized by ransomware were SMBs

Employees are oftentimes a weak link, unintentionally exposing data through phishing emails and weak passwords.

Data breaches are costly to fix, but they can also do lasting damage to a company’s reputation and ability to win or retain business over the long term. This is why every company, small or large, needs to make cybersecurity a top priority.

A comprehensive cybersecurity assessment will pinpoint specific vulnerabilities unique to your company’s IT systems- empowering you to begin a cyber protection roadmap to reduce risk and exposure.

Reasons Your Business Needs to Invest in a Cyber Assessment

Gain Visibility across Your Entire IT Infrastructure

Many businesses are operating partially blind in terms of cyber risk. An in-depth assessment will provide you with total visibility into strengths and vulnerabilities with insight into your people, processes, and technology, enabling you to set priorities for improvement.

Determine Cybersecurity Preparedness

Assessing your organization’s preventative and detective cybersecurity tools and countermeasures helps you know how to enhance your security awareness and risk management policies and procedures.

Cybersecurity assessments will determine capabilities and best practices, along with a gap analysis and a strategy for making measurable improvements.

Minimize Weaknesses

Seek out weaknesses across networked systems, cloud-based applications, and business infrastructure. Examine access policies, remote and hybrid work setups, IoT and OT devices and more to determine your risk exposure. Vulnerability assessments reveal specific problems and address problems caused by outdated systems and unpatched software that may be vulnerable to exploits that allow excessive user privileges.

Test Effectiveness of Existing Security

Even when cybersecurity improvements have been made, implemented tools and strategies may not work as intended, or may not work at all. A cybersecurity assessment tests existing controls through various methods like simulated phishing attacks and attempts to penetrate networked systems and cloud apps by mimicking techniques used by real hackers. This helps organizations identify where security improvements are required.

Instill Consumer Trust

Consumers care deeply about the protection of their personal and financial information, and business partners want to be assured that the security of their systems will not be compromised. Cybersecurity assessments verify existing security checkpoints and validate that appropriate measures are in place to safeguard data. This can also assure compliance with privacy laws and important cyber insurance policies.

Tips to Keep Your Business Data Safe

Make cyber risk control a top-level priority and budget for continuous assessments, testing and ongoing upgrades.

Require security awareness training and simulated phishing tests for all personnel. Phishing remains the #1 threat.

Restrict access controls and limit employee access to only the data and network resources necessary to fulfill job duties.

Prioritize patching for internet-facing systems. A high proportion of exploits target vulnerabilities for which a patch already exists but has not been implemented.

Ensure backups are performed routinely encrypted and secured via multi-factor authentication.

Key Takeaways

• SMBs are prime targets for cybercriminals.

• Assessments reveal vulnerabilities and ensure security controls are effective.

• Assessments make cyber risk and preparedness management actionable and measurable over time.

• Restrict access, train personnel, patch aggressively and backup/restore to complement technical controls.

• Cybersecurity assessments like annual check-ups are essential to maintain robust health and substantially reduce breach risk.

In a world where cybersecurity threats are evolving rapidly, safeguarding your business is not a choice—it’s a necessity. We understand that securing your company’s digital assets is a complex task. This is where Medullus Systems steps in as your trusted partner in cybersecurity.

From performing a cyber assessment and providing proposed solutions to helping implement and maintain those solutions to enhance your overall security posture, Medullus can partner with you to make cybersecurity a strength, not a vulnerability for your organization.

— Medullus.com —