Cyber resilience, the ability to maintain business operations in the face of unending and evolving cybersecurity threats, is becoming increasingly important. The rise of remote work means employees are accessing business-critical applications and networks from a wide variety of locations — from home offices to restaurants to coffee shops — as well as across more devices, such as personal and work-supplied devices. This increased worker footprint leaves companies vulnerable to more cybersecurity threats. But not all companies have the time or internal talent to achieve cyber resilience on their own. Time, talent, and experience varies by company, and businesses need to take a hard look at their internal resources and establish an approach to achieve cyber resilience. This could be a do-it-yourself approach, one in partnership with a managed services provider (MSP), or a combination of the two. For example, a company may be able to detect immediately when a cybersecurity threat emerges but need outside help in responding and recovering.

Below are questions companies should ask themselves to determine if they have the resources to achieve cyber resilience on their own

  1. Does my company have the technologies
    and internal processes in place to achieve
    cyber resilience?
  2. When was the last time we evaluated
    our technologies and processes to
    achieve cyber resilience?
  3. If a cybersecurity incident has occurred,
    what did we learn about our company’s
    state of cyber resilience, and were
    there deficiencies?
  4. If cyber resilience deficiencies
    were identified, what has been our
    company’s track record in resolving
    these deficiencies in a timely manner?
  5. What is our level of confidence
    in critically evaluating our current
    set of cyber resilience technologies
    and alternatives?
  6. If new or replacement technologies are
    needed, can our company manage the
    end-to-end process of evaluating and
    implementing change in a reasonable
    period of time and minimize impact on
    employees and business functions?

There is no single path to achieving cyber resilience. What’s most important is that companies and managed services providers take a planned, personalized, and thorough approach to achieving it for
themselves and their customers. Companies that take the time to do this set themselves up for a secure and prosperous future.