The Importance of Cyber Resilience: A Starting Guide for the Technically-Savvy Business Executive

I. Introduction

In our fast-paced digital age, resilience serves as a cornerstone of cybersecurity. Unlike prevention, which aims solely to fend off cyber attacks, resilience equips your organization for inevitable breaches. This preparation becomes particularly crucial for smaller organizations with limited resources.

II. Backup and Recovery Options

Robust backup and recovery systems form the backbone of resilience. You can centralize all data in a single location or distribute it across multiple sites for added security. For speed and efficiency, consider implementing DevOps-style automated backups.

III. Data Protection Strategies: Beyond Encryption

Encryption: Protects data at rest, in transit, and even the encryption systems themselves.
Advanced Encryption Techniques: Use techniques like Homomorphic Encryption for sensitive data requiring encryption during use.
Key Management: Develop effective key management strategies to keep encryption viable.
Additional Strategies: Explore other data protection methods like data masking and tokenization to fortify your security posture.

IV. NIST Cybersecurity Framework

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework is a valuable model for evaluating and enhancing resilience. It outlines five core functions—Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover—that steer your organization toward a more robust cybersecurity posture.

V. Crisis Response and Communication

Crisis Response: Conduct exercises with leadership to test plans and adapt to improvisation when plans fail.
Crisis Communication: Create a plan that specifies channels, spokespeople, and key messages for various incidents.

VI. Aligning Resilience Tactics with Compliance

Evaluation: Use key metrics like the reduction in the probability of material impact and cost versus risk tolerance.
Compliance Alignment: Integrate strategies with regulatory frameworks like GDPR and HIPAA. This involves regular compliance checks and documentation.

VII. The Evolution and Lessons of Resilience

History: Resilience emerged in the late 1980s, with pioneers like Cliff Stoll developing early incident response techniques.
Case Studies: Take cues from companies like Target and Sony, who have learned hard lessons about resilience.

VIII. Advanced Techniques and Third-Party Risks

Chaos Engineering: Netflix’s approach deliberately introduces system failures to test and improve resilience.
Third-Party Risks: Actively assess and monitor the resilience posture of your third-party vendors.

IX. Measuring Capabilities and Anticipating Future Trends

Metrics: Utilize metrics like Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR) to measure the time and cost of recovery from a breach.
Future Trends: Adopt emerging technologies like AI and machine learning to predict and counteract cyber threats.

X. Clarifying Roles in Resilience Planning

Linear Responsibility Charting (LRC): This technique defines roles and responsibilities.
Holistic Planning: Extend resilience planning to include data and the systems, applications, and infrastructure that use that data.

XI. Expanding Resilience to Supply Chains

The Operational Resilience Framework (ORF) extends resilience planning to third-party entities and supply chains. Implementing ORF involves risk assessments and continuous monitoring of third-party entities.

XII. Keeping Resilience Plans Current

Regularly update your resilience plans to adapt to evolving environments, regulations, and threats.

XIII. Conclusion

In summary, cybersecurity resilience is not a luxury but a survival necessity. As a technically savvy business executive, you guide your organization’s resilience initiatives. Remember, it’s not a question of if a cyber attack will occur but when. Act now to prepare, respond, and recover effectively.

XIV. References