Definition and challenges of cyber resilience for organizations

Attacks against business information systems are increasing. More and more numerous, they take various forms: denial of service attack (DDoS), phishing by email, Ransomware (attack and ransom demand), etc. It therefore becomes necessary to protect the company against hackers. The best approach? Anticipating threats and increase your agility to deal with potential attacks. This is called cyber resilience.

What is cyber resilience?

For a long time, security practices to deal with hackers were preventative. The idea was to strengthen the security of sensitive data and network infrastructures or to install a robust firewall. The problem is that attackers always succeed in finding security breaches. If security incidents cannot be prevented, then what should we do? This is the question that cyber resilience answers.

However, the latter does not refer to the fact of resorting to an inability to act. “Achieving cyber resilience does not mean resolving to the inability to properly protect information infrastructures, but rather to objectively recognize the insufficient effectiveness of preventive security measures, whether political, organizational, managerial, legal or technical.”

Concretely, cyber resilience considers cybersecurity in a global and more than just curative way. She is thereThe art of increasing its agility in order to adapt optimally to attacks on the information system.

It is based on Three pillars :

• IT security requires a holistic and proactive approach;
• It should not be limited only to the prevention of attacks;
• You have to develop an ability to absorb attacks.

What are the challenges of cyber resilience?

Faced with the increase in computer attacks against businesses, cyber resilience is becoming essential and presents major challenges for businesses.

Protection of sensitive data and intellectual property

Attackers during a cyber attack often want to steal company data. Whether it's about customer files, of financial data Or of trade secrets, data loss may be a A problem of considerable magnitude for companies that are victims of computer piracy. This can range from a loss of public trust to penalties for not protecting personal data.

Business continuity following a computer attack

Despite the security solutions deployed, malicious attacks can potentially hinder the smooth running of the business. One interruption of service Or a Cessation of production can represent considerable losses. It is therefore necessary to learn how to minimize the impact of such attacks.

Maintaining the trust of customers and partners

It is obvious that a customer or business partner will trust a company that clearly has a level of security that is not up to par. While it's impossible to reduce the risk of security incidents to zero, it's critical to demonstrate resilience in the event of an attack.

Reducing the costs associated with cyber attacks

Depending on the type of intrusion and its extent, the financial impact may be more or less significant. Generally, it is necessary to repair systems that have been damaged, restore data or deploy additional security measures. However, all of these actions have a substantial cost. Knowing how to react quickly to potential attacks is essential to significantly reduce it.

How to develop a cyber resilience strategy?

Once it is obvious that cyber resilience encompasses a set of strategic challenges for the company, it is still necessary to succeed in developing an adapted strategy. To do this, we recommend that you Follow a plan in 6 key steps.

1. Become aware of the vulnerability of your IS

The first step is simple, but really critical to the success of your cyber resilience strategy. All actors in the company, from management to employees, must understand that you are constantly subject to the threat of a computer attack And what he is impossible to protect yourself 100%.

2. Deploy optimal security measures

Just because the perfect defense doesn't exist doesn't mean you have to stay passive. On the contrary, to protect yourself from potential attacks, maximize your security level. Install antivirus, of Firewalls, a intrusion detection system, of access control procedures and make regular updates company terminals.

3. Make your employees aware of cybersecurity

Employees are an important factor in your strategy. Attacks often target employees via their email inboxes in particular. We therefore recommend that you train your teams in computer risks. They need to know the pitfalls to avoid and the best practices that will help avoid the most common attacks.

4. Develop an incident response plan

As we saw earlier, there is no such thing as zero risk. It is therefore essential to build a action plan in case of attack. It should be detailed in order to leave no ambiguity in order to ensure its effectiveness. Don't forget to include a data and system recovery processes following the attack.

5. Continuously monitor potential threats

To ensure good resilience, automate aspects of your security process Like the Cyber watch against potential threats. This will allow you to better know the trends in terms of cyberattacks, but also to be able to respond more quickly in the event of an attack, as it will be detected at the first signs.

6. Integrating cyber resilience into corporate culture

In order to guarantee the integrity of your information system and increase your agility, the ideal is toinclude cyber resilience in corporate culture. By doing so, you recognize it as a global issue that requires a collective effort. It is very important that each employee understands that computer security is a priority for performance of the company.

A continuous effort, a permanent agility

Of course, once you have completed the 6 steps, you must continue your efforts, car Cyber resilience is an ongoing process. It requires rigorous monitoring at all times, but also the involvement of all members of the company. Organize regular training sessions to inform employees about new forms of attacks. If everyone mobilizes and applies best practices, it is certain that you will be able to greatly increase your resilience and minimize the impact of potential attacks.

Solange Ghernaouti and Christian Aghroum, Cyber resilience, risks and dependencies: for a new approach to cybersecurity, in Security and Strategy, 2012