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In this series, in conjunction with Agile Cybersecurity Solutions (ACS, our cybersecurity testing and consulting partner), Keypoint Intelligence investigates the many facets of cybersecurity to deliver insight and strategy. Check back here next Tuesday for more free tips and tricks, helpful hints, as well as solutions and tools—all to help you navigate the potentially treacherous waters of cybersecurity.
As companies increasingly adopt technologies like cloud services, connected devices, and automated processes, they create amazing efficiencies that can propel growth. However, these digital upgrades also multiply risks of damaging hacks and data theft. While innovation opens new doors, it also gives criminals new ways to target businesses and clients. Therefore, companies need to make cybersecurity an integral priority when selecting and implementing cutting-edge tools.
Many tech leaders focus first on how new software or platforms might create better customer experience (CX) or enable seamless workflows. But equal attention needs to go toward how added networks, more centralized data, or unfamiliar programs might expose firms to crippling breaches. Since most enterprises lack expertise assessing emerging security vulnerabilities, partnering early on with managed service providers (MSPs) specializing in technology risk can prevent major incidents down the road.
When installing, for instance, new sensors that collect operational data for analysis, leaders also need to examine what customer or proprietary information could be compromised if those devices faced tampering. Could bad actors manipulate readings to hide quality failures? Could they peek at trade secrets around production methods? Asking these questions for each new system is key and, as more staff access and utilize digitized data from home devices or while traveling, companies need to implement tighter controls and usage monitoring to minimize insider threats. Multifactor authentication, VPN connections, and privileged access management must expand to mobile platforms as well as with cybersecurity training for remote employees.
On top of hardening defenses around infrastructure and personnel habits, keeping up with compliance considerations cannot be dismissed simply because evolving regulations can be overwhelming. Costly fines, along with amateur security measures, could permanently damage client trust. Therefore, controlled evolution on both fronts must occur in parallel…even if achieved gradually. Appointing cross-functional teams to continually track new laws or industry rules can help avoid falling behind, too.
The key is recognizing digital transformation (DX) as an equal opportunity to strengthen defenses across infrastructure, staff habits, and oversight through informed design choices rather than remaining reactive. In essence, leaders driving modernization need security advisors providing guidance to match safeguards with each new technology introduced, instead of leaving protections as an afterthought. With malicious attacks growing more frequent and complex, taking a proactive and comprehensive approach ensures ongoing innovation and safety for an organization’s most critical assets—its data, reputation, and relationships—in the digital age.
Keypoint Intelligence Opinion
As DX brings game-changing breakthroughs in operations and customer engagement, it also ushers in unprecedented cyber-risks that leave companies profoundly vulnerable if ignored. The realization leaders need to come to is that modernization necessitates a parallel escalation in security strategy, resources, and vigilance to sustainably reap rewards rather than court disaster. This means baking comprehensive protections like access controls, network segmentation, and robust encryption into new solutions—from initial selection through ongoing maintenance. It requires appointing cross-functional teams to continually advance defenses in line with operational evolution. Most importantly, it means enlisting managed service specialists as core partners to spotlight gaps and optimize protections well beyond most organization’s internal capabilities.
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