The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) informed about 5 urgent cybersecurity actions that companies should take in order to prevent cyber incidents.
According to CISA, in today’s highly connected and highly complex technology environment, with dependencies on supply chains where there is inherently imperfect control, it has become increasingly challenging to completely prevent incidents that may disrupt business operations.
Such an environment necessitates a laser-focus on resilience, to include dedicated efforts to ensuring preparedness and a rapid, coordinated response to mitigate the impact of such disruptions to your business or the wider economy
As the first signs of a major cyber-attack on U.S. infrastructure may be detected by a companies, the Agency wants to reemphasize the importance of continuous collaboration and information sharing in working together to see and understand the threat.
Here are 5 urgent focus areas for every CEO:
- Empower Chief Information Security Officers (CISO): In nearly every organization, security improvements are weighed against cost and operational risks to the business. In this heightened threat environment, senior management should empower CISOs by including them in the decision- making process for risk to the company and ensure that the entire organization understands that security investments are a top priority in the immediate term.
- Lower Reporting Thresholds: Every organization should have documented thresholds for reporting potential cyber incidents to senior management and to the U.S. government. These thresholds should be significantly lower than normal. Senior management should establish an expectation that any indications of malicious cyber activity, even if blocked by security controls, should be reported, as noted in the Shields-Up website, to CISA or the FBI. Lowering thresholds will ensure the ability to immediately identify an issue and help protect against further attack or victims.
- Participate in a Test of Response Plans: Cyber incident response plans should include not only your security and IT teams, but also senior business leadership and Board members. If a company has not already done, senior management should participate in a table-top exercise to ensure familiarity with how the organization will manage a major cyber incident, to not only their company but also companies within their supply chain.
- Focus on Continuity: Recognizing finite resources, investments in security and resilience should be focused on those systems supporting critical business functions. Senior management should ensure that such systems have been identified and that continuity tests have been conducted to ensure that critical business functions can remain available subsequent to a cyber intrusion.
- Plan for the Worst: Organizations should plan for a worst-case scenario. Senior management should ensure that exigent measures can be taken to protect the organization’s most critical assets in case of an intrusion, including disconnecting high-impact parts of the network if necessary.
