Managing Rising Cybersecurity Risk in Today's Global Environment

Rahul Mahna, Partner with EisnerAmper’s Outsourced IT Group, discussed the rising concern of cyberattacks, the challenges in retaining IT professionals who help keep your business safe, and the benefits of outsourcing IT services in this Solution session from March of 2023.

A cybersecurity survey we conducted last year found that 70% of executives believe the next internal IT issue will come from within; yet over 30% of those organizations have not implemented a yearly cybersecurity training program. Considering the increasing governance and mandates on companies to show how they're protecting consumer data, it's more important than ever for businesses to have robust cybersecurity programs. Outsourcing some IT services can help.

Rising concern about cyber attacks

Most businesses had employees working in one central location before the COVID-19 pandemic, and it was simpler for IT departments to fortify any entry points. A significant portion of the workforce began working remotely after the onset of the pandemic, giving IT workers an infinite number of things to protect against and creating stress on the departments and their technology. In today's tight labor market, businesses are worried about having the internal personnel and skills to handle a potential breach, especially in light of increasing governance and mandates.

Importance of enhanced cybersecurity measures

In years past, we often found that bad actors would try to disrupt businesses by attacking firewalls or using encryption. Moving forward, they're not spending time on useless activities; they're going to the dark web to purchase information they could use to attack a person with access to money in a company, like a CEO, CFO, or COO. Cyber attackers are learning to mimic the voice of the person they're trying to capture and waiting for the right opportunity to attack. Hackers have gotten much more innovative, and it's imperative to enhance your business's cybersecurity measures to help protect yourself.

Benefits of outsourced IT

It's not if you're going to get hacked; it's when—so companies must be prepared. The expertise of an outsourced provider can minimize or eliminate the downtime that might occur in the event of a hack. Because innovations are constantly happening, working with an outside vendor can bring your business fresh ideas and access to technology that can help improve your organization's performance. Hiring employees as your business grows is hard, especially in today's tight labor market, and an outsourced IT vendor can help add talent when needed or scale down if necessary.

Managing rising cybersecurity risks

We advise that businesses get a health checkup once a year and a cyber assessment done by a third party to check its systems and IT department, identify any gaps, and build a technology roadmap to help detect and prevent potential cybersecurity threats. Ultimately, the best thing you can do to protect your organization is to educate your employees. Email phishing campaigns are one of the most common methods of hacks, so provide regular cyber trainings where employees can learn how to spot malicious content in an email. As employees return to the office and travel more, educate them on being secure while they travel, such as the risks posed by using free public Wi-Fi on their work laptops or cell phones. If they understand these little nuances, they can significantly impact the cyber resiliency program of an organization.