5 Key Steps For Effective Cybersecurity Planning

• By Vickie Mansfield
• 17-01-2025
• Technology

Look up quotes about planning on the Internet, and you’ll find no shortage of them. You can spend all day going through each quote and immersing in its meaning, but most of these agree on one thing: failing to plan now is a plan for failure later.

It’s easy to think you can make a plan on the fly, but that’s ill-advised for things with lots of moving parts. Cybersecurity is one such example, given how complex modern attacks and solutions have become over the past decades. No matter how well-equipped an IT system is, only a sound cybersecurity plan can stand in a cybercriminal’s way.

With cybercrime primed to cost the global economy around USD$10.3 trillion this year and more in the coming years (according to Statista), cybersecurity planning should be high up a business’s list of priorities. Here’s an in-depth look at the necessary steps for formulating a plan—all in order.

1. Know Your Data

You may have heard or read experts referring to data as the “new gold” or “new oil,” two of the most valuable resources on Earth. The imagery attests to the attitude toward analytics in the business setting. Whether or not you dispute that, the fact is that no business owner today would ever risk not using data to their advantage.

That being the case, data is distinct across companies. A health insurance provider deals with policyholders’ medical records and financial information, whereas retail businesses handle customers’ payment information and purchase history—both to name a few.

Awareness of the kind of data a business regularly manages is a crucial first step in drafting a cybersecurity plan. That way, business leaders can gauge the consequences of losing the data to a successful breach, some of which include:

• Posing as the individual: With the victim’s sensitive information in their hands, the cybercriminal can use the credentials to assume the victim’s identity. They can then make transactions, leaving the victim to foot the bill.
• Launching phishing attacks: If the victim is a high-profile individual, the criminal can use their name to add legitimacy to their requests to people who haven’t been made aware of the stolen identity.
• Selling on the Dark Web: If the criminal has no use for the data, they can still make a quick buck by selling it to fellow cybercriminals on the Dark Web. Then, it’ll be the latter’s turn to make the victim’s life difficult.
• Extorting businesses: Sometimes, cybercriminals don’t need to steal the data. Using ransomware, they can deny companies access to their data unless they pay the criminal a specified amount (hence the term ransomware).

This step is also vital in ensuring compliance with existing data privacy laws wherever you do business. In the U.S., these laws exist at the federal and state levels (currently, only 20 states have them). The most well-known federal laws are:

• Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA): Standardizes the collection, exchange, and security of health information. Entities that are required to comply with HIPAA include healthcare providers and health insurance services.
• Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA): Businesses with audiences consisting of children under 13 must comply with COPPA guidelines. One notable example involves securing parental consent.
• Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA): Financial institutions are required not only to protect their clients’ data but also to disclose their usage. Additionally, the GLBA mandates notifying clients if their information will be handed over to a third party.

Any business that uses any data should have a cybersecurity plan and system in place, no matter the extent of the collection and use. The greater the amount of data the business manages, the more comprehensive the plan and system need to be.

If you’re unsure about the degree of protection and compliance you need, you can always employ professional IT support Bellevue business owners trust. Not all business owners can catch up with the changing cybersecurity landscape, but this service makes it its job.

2. Understand The Threat

In this never-ending digital game of cat and mouse, the attacking side has the upper hand. Most cybersecurity solutions are created in response to attacks at the time they’re made, but cybercriminals can work around them by studying their pros and cons. The defending side, as a result, needs to keep up to prevent their solutions from becoming vulnerabilities.

Attackers have a long list of ways to defeat cybersecurity systems. Because of the various options available, determining the exact type of attack to expect is difficult. Instead, it’s a lot easier to prepare for all known intrusions.

Regardless, it’s possible to get a rough idea of the most favored method among attackers. A 2023 survey of U.S.-based companies revealed that network intrusion attacks were the most common that year, comprising over half of reported incidents.

Also known as a network attack or breach, a network intrusion is an unauthorized activity on a digital network. Think of it as the Internet's version of barging into someone’s home uninvited, especially to steal their things. It’s the classic form of cybercrime, with several examples including data breaches, distributed denial of service (DDoS), and malware.

Second is business email compromise (BEC), which comprises more than a quarter of the reported incidents. In this approach, cybercriminals distribute legitimate-looking emails to random or specified targets, hoping the victims pass them off as the real deal. The typical objective is either to prompt them to wire money or steal their login credentials.

BECs are damaging to brands as hackers use their image and likeness. Some attempts make an effort to spruce up the message to look legitimate, down to the sender’s email address. Meanwhile, the actual brands are left to conduct costly damage control.

In some cases (and contrary to popular belief), cybercriminals don’t need state-of-the-art equipment and software to pull off grand heists. With a few persuasive words and the right attitude, they can make their target unknowingly give their sensitive information. Security experts refer to this as social engineering.

While the nature of these threats has remained relatively unchanged over the years, the tools and techniques used in their execution have continued to evolve. Because of this, cybersecurity planning doesn’t end with the implementation of one plan. Instead, this is the start of formulating the next one.

3. Develop Contingencies

No matter how loaded a cybersecurity tech stack is, cybercriminals will soon find their way in. When they do, the damage they can inflict is enough to disrupt the modern way of life, if not destroy businesses and mess with people’s lives.

It might sound bleak, but believe security professionals when they say they wish they could create a system that’s completely immune to cyberattacks. Technological growth is inevitable, and attackers will get every advantage they can to stay one step ahead. As an example, they’ve already utilized artificial intelligence in the latest wave of incursions.

Business leaders should have contingency plans in case an attack breaches their system. If the attack can’t be thwarted, the next best thing is to limit the damage it can do. In doing so, the subsequent recovery will be faster and consume fewer resources.

Formulating a contingency plan involves at least two key aspects: system backup and business continuity. As Öykü Işık, professor of digital strategy and cybersecurity at the International Institute of Management Development, stated, cybersecurity isn’t just about thwarting attacks but also about ensuring business operations are still running.

System Backup

• Redundant IT systems
• Stripe and Mirror Everything (SAME)
• Backup on multiple storage servers
• Backup on multiple devices/media
• Automatic failover
• Server clustering

Business Continuity

• Incident response team formation
• Auditing critical interconnections
• Constant contingency reevaluation
• Notifying customers/clients on time
• Risk reduction and management
• SLAs with cybersecurity services

Even if disrupting operations isn’t a cybercriminal’s primary goal, they can certainly benefit from it. Without a contingency plan, the business or agency will be left wide open to future incursions. If attackers can crack an infrastructure open using fewer computing resources, they’d be remiss not to seize such an opportunity.

4. Include Awareness Training

Most industry experts concur that the human user is the weakest link in any cybersecurity system. In fact, you’d be surprised that more data breaches last year were caused by the victim being conned than by exploiting vulnerabilities—68% versus 62%, as per Verizon’s latest Data Breach Investigations Report.

Naturally, the sensible recourse is to train employees in recognizing potential attempts by cybercriminals. Despite this, social engineering remains an effective tool in the attacker’s arsenal, and scores of people still fall victim to it.

In an article at The Conversation, Jongkil Jay Jeong, senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne, argues that most cybersecurity training programs fall short because they’re too focused on the technological side. The programs rarely address the behavioral issues that prompt people to fall victim to even the most basic forms of cybercrime.

As complicated as addressing the psychological aspect of cybersecurity may seem, Jeong points out that developing a human-centric system boils down to simplifying cybersecurity best practices, promoting cybersecurity culture, and thinking about the long term.

Meanwhile, in a survey of cybersecurity practitioners, researchers at the Cork University Business School identified five success factors in creating an effective training program.

The best cybersecurity system isn’t always the one with the most cutting-edge tech stack. If you can spot the threat coming from a mile away, you’ll know how to act according to the company’s cybersecurity strategy. In this case, there won’t be a need for the tech stack to get involved.

5. Develop Strict Rules

Cybersecurity isn’t a one-man responsibility; everyone in the workplace has a role to play in protecting the business’s assets and interests. IT security professionals are still human and can only safeguard the network for so long before they’re overwhelmed.

If anything, most causes of data breaches don’t need information science to understand. Complacency and naivete lead to avoidable consequences like weak passwords, wrong sender information, and even leaving strong passwords on sticky notes by the monitor. As a business owner, such habits should be unacceptable.

A cybersecurity policy is more important among businesses with remote work setups. As their staff accesses data from personal devices at home, the policy should feature strict endpoint rules. Network rules are also crucial, as it’s wrong to assume that all employees have secure Internet connections.

Conclusion

Planning a cybersecurity strategy involves a great deal of brainstorming and investment. There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach, as every business’s cybersecurity needs are unique and cyber threats evolve over time. Never build your system without knowing what it needs to protect and who it must be protected against first.