The rules of engagement in cybersecurity are constantly shifting as criminal gangs and nation-states are using new technologies, including artificial intelligence, to exploit new attack routes while still using old, reliable solutions.
While prevention remains a high priority, finance leaders must acknowledge that cyberattacks will succeed despite the best defenses. Rapid detection, response, and recovery matter more than ever to help minimise damage and rebuild effectively to increase resilience.
Cyber resilience is vital to maintain business operational capabilities, safeguard customer trust, and reduce the impact of future attacks. Regulators worldwide are also increasingly focused on cyber resilience, obliging organisations to be more transparent about their ability to respond to breaches before, during and after an incident.
Meanwhile, in recovering from possible cyber attacks, finance leaders must take into consideration the following steps:
1 Define your criticality — it’s all about the business
2 Focus on what matters — that may surprise you
3 Be clear on who is doing what — and help them succeed
4 Communicate — with timeliness, clarity and consistency — to all who need to know
5 Pause for reflection — even in the worst moments
6 Be adaptable — and realise the playbook may be wrong
7 Know when the crisis is over — and move on quickly but carefully
Additionally, when the worst has passed, finance leaders must learn from what happened and look into the following steps to build on resilience and cyber vigilance to avoid the unwanted to re-occur.
1 Be honest about what has happened — and learn from it
2 Build resilience — and keep improving
3 Clean up — data and applications
4 It’s organisation-wide — not just one team’s role
5 Understand your supply chain — and its role in your resilience
6 Use retainers — to quickly access the skills you need
7 The world changes — don’t assume today’s challenges are tomorrow’s
8 But most of all — stay vigilant
