2021's Importance of Spending More on Security

It is natural for companies to focus on resilience, investing time, effort, and resources to improve their security to withstand the ever-changing threatening landscape. While not yet a significant portion of total business outflow, spending on security is growing in many organizations in hopes of protecting digital assets. However, investing is no longer a cure and does not guarantee greater resilience in the organization. Reasonable and appropriate spending is indeed a challenge to maximize return - on - investment.

The main priority is not only to identify the strengths and weaknesses of existing infrastructure and where to improve network security but also to determine which resources are worth protecting and which is the most efficient (and most effective) way profitable. You would think otherwise given the advancement in security systems, but the truth is false operations and data breaches are a glooming reality, especially during the pandemic. The FBI stated that the number of cyber-attacks complaints to their Cyber Division is nearly 4000 in a day - a 400% increase since the previous times.

The Evolution of Cybersecurity Spending Is Growing

It is difficult to determine exactly how much you spend on information technology, as explained by research. For example, you may involve adding security features to production software or training, which is usually mandatory and paid for by the research unit. On the other hand, according to Gartner, organizations should spend 4.7% of their budget on information security: lower when they have developed systems, higher when they are widespread and vulnerable. This would mean special security costs usually shared by hardware, software, services - outsourcing and consulting and staff.

The company’s experts estimate that global IT security spending will reach 8.7% in 2021, reaching $ 124 billion; this is a larger increase than total IT spending, which is expected to increase by only 3.2%. However, it is because of the regulatory changes, as well as the demand to comply with new privacy laws. However, the IDC goes further and expects an annual growth rate of 9.9%, which is driven by unusual production and manufacturing processes.

Currently, companies mainly focus on technical mitigation measures, and in particular on relevant identification and source technologies, as well as performance protection software. Procurement of security analysis, intelligence, tape response, and removal software, and network security software is another rising cost.

Not All Security Spending Cost the Same

Within the increase in IT security costs, the corresponding amount represents the increase in money paid to the service providers it manages. They have experienced security professionals who provide basic services to their clients, such as investigation and response to threats or discovery, enabling companies without a security agency to benefit.

However, Managed - Detection - and - Response (M-D-R) allows non-Security - Operations - Center (SOC) organizations to use Endpoint - Detection - and - Response (E-D-R) tools without the need for their resources to examine an average of 10,000 alerts generated daily by E-D-R tools.

In addition to M-D-R, CISO has spent thousands of dollars on site to detect and reduce potential damage, synonymous with sophisticated mousetraps and countless user interfaces without clearly reducing risk. Any additional costs spent on projects such as E-D-R and advanced threat search have increased costs and expenses.

Security is Long Overdue for a Diet

The economic impact of COVID-19 will undoubtedly put pressure on subjective areas of consumption, such as security. Companies were forced to buy more to ensure safety, so they were burdened with too many layers, units, smooth dashboards, and decorated vendors. Companies of all sizes need to grasp the harsh reality that security budgets were already too large for a pandemic and that many current spending areas were not needed to launch, or even basic expectations failed.

When budgets are under pressure, it creates confusion in every market - and it’s time for the security market. There is no need to compromise on greater security. There are basic principles for developing basic aspects of security hygiene that are free and do not cost a cent. This is a topic for new discussion, but suffice it to say that organizations can very well reduce the risk of immersing basic products.

COVID-19 Has Revealed the Truth about Spending on Security

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many shortcomings in the information security budget. When the entire workforce moved home at the same time to work using virtual desktops, they faced complete insecurity. Suddenly, employees on the remote network were trapped outside the security layers of the corporate network, including those who had access to important information. As a result, they were vulnerable to attacks that cybersecurity platforms and other security keys the company uses could not prevent.

However, V-P-N and V-D-I can solve some problems, but not all were fast and could not be used. Eventually, security teams found shelters that did not work properly with a decentralized workforce - a reality they faced when COVID-19 brought the entire economy to its knees. This has revealed the rotting truth that cybersecurity budgets are too large and a waste of countless user interfaces, as security experts can reduce security risks because the organization is still a reality just as threatening as for COVID-19.

Key Insights and Security Best Practices Post COVID-19

Awareness of COVID-19 Cyberattacks

Amid the pandemic, you may see an increase in coronavirus-themed emails claiming to provide essential services and information. You may be offered updates regarding workplace policy or advice regarding your health. If it’s asking you for your personal information with generic gestures or grammar/spelling errors, it’s a red flag.

Under no circumstances should you be providing your information to an unverified source. Your business can create awareness of social engineering or phishing attacks by including caution headers regarding emails about the coronavirus.

Secure Online Meetings

If you’ve been using Zoom or other video-conferencing platforms for your virtual meetings, you’d know it requires users to access a meeting only via two-factor authentication or passwords. But you can go a step further to monitor and keep the meeting professional by assigning moderators if required. There are also privacy features, namely a virtual waiting room that allows hosts to see who is planning to join before the meeting’s commencement.

Security Measures for Remote Employees

To avoid compromising your data, avoid public or unsecured networks to access the internet, and use properly configured V-P-Ns. However, it will assist you to encrypt your data traffic. We are all for not going out of the house but using supposedly effortless solutions like forwarding your business files to your email is not the smartest solution in your handbook, especially in the wake of widespread cybersecurity threats.

Use company domains to send business emails and secure your mobile device with antivirus software. You can also use complex passwords to secure your network rather than generic ones that include information about family members, names, or birthdays. 

Verification of Charities

You would think hackers would leave charitable causes out of their cyber attacking agenda. Apparently not! The Federal - Trade - Commission declared that scams soliciting donations for fake charities and Non-Profit Organizations (N-P-O) have increased. A way of cutting this is to use organizations to corroborate how legitimate a particular N-P-O is. You will also never see authentic charities having trouble verifying their tax-exempt status and being listed on third-party websites. 

Government Benefit Scams

Another by-product of the pandemic is imposters trying to obtain social security or banking information from government benefits recipients. If you are fortunate enough to receive such benefits, chances are you may be on the receiving end of a scam call! It’s imperative to state that the government would never ask you for personal information.

Clear Communication

To avoid your clients from being duped by scammers regarding COVID-19, make sure they are made aware through clear communications of new events, promotions, or programs. Your employees should also be made aware that if a financial institution calls to inquire about the legitimacy of a payment, their calls are not ignored.  

Your company can also use advanced software to filter emails, such as separate spam, and detect viruses before employees see them in their inbox. How do spam filters work? Make sure they know that opening suspicious emails from unreliable senders is vital for data protection and cybersecurity. 

Person to Person Payment Services

This is a widespread trend during the pandemic, whereby scammers offer emergency funds after you give an initial payment or deposit to confirm your identity. Even relying solely on the comments section of official social media pages isn’t enough since hackers often respond to replies of authentic Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram pages to draw potential targets. Your business can use dual controls to initiate payments or authenticate requests to input or alter payment-related information.

Patch Management

Installing verified software components, known as patches, to prevent unauthorized users’ web penetration is crucial for data and system protection. This way, you can also manage risk across enterprises by finding appropriate managing systems for every IT or operational technology.

Disposal of Confidential Documents

When you are working from home, you may feel the need to print and eventually dispose of office files. Make sure you don’t throw confidential documents in the household trash. Even while sharing a workspace with other residents, you would do well to avoid exposing confidential information.

Sound Policies and Procedures

An ideal plan would be to reduce your organization’s overall IT spending, increase convenience, and cost savings. This can all be achieved if your company implements the popular Bring - Your - Device - Policy, also known as B-Y-O-D policy. Employees can also be available after office hours or on weekends if they carry their devices.

But it’d be best if you took additional risk management and security measures for these devices. Employees can do this by using different software security products like antivirus, popup blockers, and personal firewalls, or enabling automatic patches or updates to the software. You can also disable useless networking features on a PC and securely configure wireless networking.

Business Resiliency Plans

Adapting your business to focus on operational issues in COVID-19 times is your best shot to staying up to date. Whether it’s identifying critical functions and employees or arranging for safe working at the office or even remote work, you must expect an increase in IT usage and cybersecurity threats resulting from your employees working from home.

A successful company will sustain its business as usual with critical service providers so that essential work proceeds forth uninterrupted. Use third-party risk management to look at your supplier’s cybersecurity and the suppliers to your suppliers because if they are breached, so are you, whether it’s through reputational damage or otherwise.

You’ll benefit by keeping annual checks on higher-risk partners or three-year double-check if they are low-risk. The objective is taking a risk-based approach to make the most of limited resources - not something you want to overlook.

Conclusion

What is the best policy to spend on security? Of course, it depends on the size of the company, the budget, the scope of work, and the tasks of the company, but security is never a waste of money. The focus should not be on the spending of institutions, but on what they invest in - for example, training such as CISSP training and security technologies and the people who run them. Over and above the obvious security software and hardware, it is important to consider how to improve staff - which plays an effective role in the organization’s cybersecurity.  Employees would have greater assets to have the appropriate skills or training, so gaps in knowledge and awareness-raising are needed.

Therefore, except for the budget for cybersecurity tools, third-party cybersecurity services, and network infrastructure protection, it makes sense to spend on educating consumers to create a human firewall. This remains the most effective strategy against user vulnerabilities, including phishing attacks and attempts to combat script infiltration into organizations. Finally, security staff integrates and improves the performance of all implemented security technologies and security systems.