When a business concept is born, building out a tech stack based on cybersecurity is not always the first item of concern. The need to simplify cybersecurity often comes later in the growth phase of a business. Start-ups are well-known for everyone on staff pitching in different areas. Technology and software purchases are often based on last-minute needs, lowest costs, etc. It is often assumed that security is covered by the manufacturers of the chosen technology.
The recent global migration to remote work also adds challenges. Those employees working from home are often doing so from their own devices, and they may be using home Wi-Fi networks. Now, your business network stretches well beyond the bounds of your on-premises firewall. Plus, employees continue to download third-party apps you don’t know about and that could be compromising their technology. When they connect to your network, your business gets compromised, too.
At the same time, cybercrime threats are increasing. The number of potential entry points to identify and protect is constantly growing. Bad actors remain highly motivated to attack small business targets. Plus, they are finding ways to take advantage of the new vulnerabilities remote workers represent.
There is just so much IT, that it’s difficult to keep up with it all. We find it useful to think about all these IT issues in terms of a four-part framework:
- tech stack
- security and compliance
- IT Management
- IT Operations
Looking at technology this way, your business can better identify IT gaps.
Next, we’ll explain the differences between each area in small business tech strategy.
TECH STACK
You don’t stack all your business technology, yet every business today has a tech stack.
Does anyone at your business understand the full range of technology? We’re not just talking about troubleshooting the printer or personal computers. The tech stack includes your routers, switches, firewall, storage, database, and servers. You might have workstations in the cloud and on-premises. Those are part of the tech stack, too.
The tech stack is also known as IT infrastructure. It consists of everything your business uses to function. That’s client-facing technology and back-end stuff (operating systems, servers, data storage, and more). You may also have some API services that help you connect different tech stack segments.
Your people need to be confident in the tech stack to get their jobs done. Those in charge of the tech stack focus on reliability, flexibility, and scalability. Budget considerations rank high, too.
While it may not have been your main concern, when you want to simplify cybersecurity, your tech stack is crucial. A cybersecurity assessment would be the first step to determining the risk level of your current tech stack.
How to Meet the Guidelines for the NIST Cybersecurity Framework
SECURITY AND COMPLIANCE
Every business is at risk of cyberattack. Depending on your industry, you may also face regulatory processes. You might need to comply with security control regulations in healthcare or payment processing or protect personally identifiable information (PII).
No matter the size of your business, you need to:
- identify – understand cybersecurity risk to systems, people, assets, data, and capabilities;
- protect – safeguard your infrastructure and limit or contain the impact of a potential cybersecurity event;
- detect – identify the occurrence of a cybersecurity event in a timely fashion;
- respond – take action to contain the impact of a potential cybersecurity incident;
- recover – plan for resilience and restore any capabilities or services impaired due to a cybersecurity incident.
Your business needs to keep its technology current and patch against vulnerabilities. But successful security and compliance also require IT controls. These include multi-factor authentication, identity and access management, encryption, and malware protection.
It is often assumed that businesses smaller in size are not targeted by hackers, but that’s simply not true. Any person that uses the internet is a target by hackers. We help organizations of all sizes simplify cybersecurity through our outsourced managed services.
Related: IT Security Best Practices Checklist
IT MANAGEMENT
IT management and IT operations may sound like the same thing, but there are distinctions.
IT management uses a vast array of tools to monitor and manage all business IT assets. They know what hardware and software are deployed and how it’s used, and take charge of any upgrades.
The IT management area handles end-to-end delivery of IT services. They manage all infrastructure and system changes working to ensure minimal disruption.
This is also the area that covers the help desk. Probably with more confidence than Jorge, who you hired as an accountant. Access requests or password resets? That’s IT management. Plus, this area handles bigger problems and also analyzes to prevent a recurrence.
We have helped our clients simplify cybersecurity through not only our managed services but our compliance and strategic services.
Related: The Financial Industry’s Biggest Threat
IT OPERATIONS
IT operations make sure business technology is up and running so that users can be at their most productive. They establish the processes and procedures to monitor performance and manage availability. They are responsible for improving:
- customer experience;
- user access;
- service availability;
- internal and external network communications;
- device management;
- disaster recovery.
Successful IT-enabled operations enhance operational efficiency and reduce operational risk. Monitoring these operations will help your organization simplify cybersecurity. It’s possible to enhance your IT operations through managed detection and remediation, a service we call MDR. We monitor your endpoints and our team can stop cyber threats in their tracks.
IDENTIFYING THE GAPS IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
This framework supports a more intentional view of business IT. Aware that you need to pay equal attention to each of these four areas, you will be able to see where you’re slipping. Falling behind on business technology can:
- hurt your competitive advantage;
- slow business processes;
- hinder innovation;
- frustrate customers;
- undercut employee engagement efforts;
- risk your compliance;
- lead to a damaging data breach or other downtimes.
Your business may be in a position to hire its own IT team, yet that puts the onus on you to find people to cover each of the framework areas. And it’s a tight labor market, especially in IT. You’ll need to recruit and train and keep and develop the team, too. Or you could outsource your business tech to a managed security service provider. More on that next.
Related: 4 Necessary Elements of a Compliance Management Framework
Managed Security Services
Working with an MSSP like Cybriant, you gain access to IT experts who can help align your tech stack with the cybersecurity needs of your organization. Our expertise is in managed security services and we provide a simple solution that will help cover all your cybersecurity needs. This service is called CybriantXDR and it will help give your organization an outsourced way to monitor for cyber threats, stop threats, and remediate any issues.
CybriantXDR is a bundled solution of our core managed service and the ultimate way for organizations to simplify cybersecurity. These services will help you effectively reduce your threat landscape and sleep easier at night knowing you are fully protected. These services help businesses solve three challenges; reduce cyber risk, achieve compliance, and meet security framework control standards. The services comprised in CybriantXDR address the most common vulnerabilities and threats mid-sized organizations will encounter thereby shrinking the threat landscape maximally.
Learn more at cybriant.com/xdr.
