The global economy is expected to experience a loss of US$ 6 trillion due to cyber attacks by the year 2021. It’s hard to visualize life without the internet. Over the past decade, the Internet has seen exponential growth. Internet use has also risen as smartphones and laptops become part of daily activities. Humans are only one click away from acquiring information about everything. The technological world has already passed into an age of transformation with the World Wide Web introduction in 1995. Nevertheless, despite many Internet characteristics, one major threat faced by almost all companies is potential cyber-attacks and malware. Reports indicate that by 2021, the global economy’s overall loss will be US$6 million due to cyber-attacks.
That is why to mitigate cyber threats; a strategic approach needs formulating. In this article, we will look at five types of cybersecurity strategies that help businesses and organizations minimize cyber attacks.
- Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity: The critical infrastructure cybersecurity strategy is applied to secure critical infrastructure networks. They are mechanisms on which societies are heavily dependent. These include the electricity grid, water purification, traffic lights, shopping centers, and hospitals. They are not directly in connection with a possible cyber breach. But it can serve as a gateway through which cyber malware can occur at the endpoints through which these systems are in connection. The organizations responsible for maintaining critical infrastructure need to access the weak points to protect the companies. To reduce the risk of cyber malware or decrease cyber attacks, it is necessary. Organizations that use vital infrastructure must, therefore, calculate the amount of damage caused by cyber-attacks. Such organizations ought to have an emergency plan that would encourage their companies not to bear the brunt of cyberattacks.
- Network Security: It is a technique that allows organizations to prevent intruders, targeted attackers, and opportunistic malware from securing computer networks. The Internet has many networks linked to numerous websites, frequently detecting malicious intent, attacking organizations with an unwanted intrusion. Also, since many websites contain cookies from third parties, the actions of users are monitored. This can often prove beneficial for organizations to expand their companies, but consumers also become prey to fraud and sexual exploitation. Organizations must also deploy a security program to track the internal network to counter cyberattacks and malware associated with the network. Experts also proposed using technologies for machine learning to alert authorities in the event of irregular traffic. Extra logins, new passwords, firewalls, incognito mode, antivirus programs, monitored internet access and encryption are few methods to upgrade network security.
- Cloud Security: Many companies are now inclined to use artificial intelligence to improve their businesses, increase customer service, and function effectively. It becomes difficult for enterprises to store these data in physical form with the abundant data available at each organizational set-up. This information is often found to be largely unstructured and derived from unknown sources. It can cause a possible hazard to the network of the company. Reports suggest that on-premise environments are particularly vulnerable to cyber malware. Users would be equipped with secure data by integrating the system with a cloud protection platform, thus mitigating a cyber-attack risk.
- Internet of Things Security: It is noted that the Internet of Things is the next tool for the technological revolution. A report predicted that the IoT market size would grow by US$520 billion by 2021. IoT provides the consumer with a range of critical and non-critical equipment, like devices, sensors, printers, and wifi routers. The report indicates that the threat to security is a crucial challenge to the introduction of IoT in any organization. Organizations are equipped with insightful analytics, legacy embedded systems, and a stable network by integrating IoT security devices.
- Application Security: Users are infatuated with numerous apps, including hardware, applications, and tablets. But an application, like the networks, becomes equally vulnerable to cyber-attack or malware. The application’s security thwarts the cybersecurity violation by adopting hardware and software methods at the project’s development level. An anti-virus program, firewalls, and encryption programs are some of the methods associated with application security.
