How to Out-Secure the Competition in 5 Easy Steps

Every year, we encounter a wide variety of companies, firms of different sizes that play distinct roles in their respective industries. Some are in a position to mitigate all sorts of risks to information assets, but they are in the minority.

I have compiled a list of no-nonsense recommendations to help anyone tackle that challenge, and mitigate the vast majority of the risk to their business. These are simple, require little effort and their corresponding investment can easily be contained. Here they are:  

1. Tackle the biggest issues first
You know what’s most valuable to you. Your financial data, private client information, trade secrets, intellectual property are all critical information assets and represent a small portion of the company’s overall volume of data. You already know where they are stored, how they are used, transported and safeguarded. These represent at least 80% of all information asset risk and most of the value of the organization. Plan to protect them first and look for weaknesses in the security controls already in place.

2. Think top-down
What does it take to have an overarching plan for security protection? Simply, management accountability. Once a strategic commitment is made to embrace security, everything flows naturally from it. Policies, procedures, communications, techniques and tools all fall into place within the larger set of business activities. Organizations are always surprised at the elegance and ease with which good security solutions fit within their business process.

3. Good security is layered security
Layered security applies to people, processes and technology. The organizational structure must support accountability and adequately delegate tasks with increasing granularity. Business processes and procedures need to follow policies and incorporate controls and monitoring that can be used by people and technology to close security gaps and provide on-going security throughout the organization. Overlapping security controls strengthen security, but redundancy weakens it. Eliminate or redirect unnecessary efforts that duplicate activities.

4. The weakest link can be the strongest
People continue to play a key role in the effectiveness of every organization’s protective envelope. When adequately educated and empowered, accountable employees contribute to the application of policies, controls and monitoring to strengthen security and address gaps that technology simply cannot. Without proper guidance, communication and tools, employees cannot be expected to play an active security role. In such situations, people can accidentally cause security breaches through sheer apathy. In the absence of accountability, cases of malicious damage and internal security breaches can only rarely be punishable by law.

5. Never sacrifice productivity
It is a common misconception that security and productivity are at odds with one another. All too often, companies force unrealistic controls upon employees that have for effect to essentially lower security when people create workarounds and otherwise reject complicated, ineffective tasks. While convenience can be sacrificed for the sake of security, compromising productivity is never a good idea. Understand the difference.

I guarantee that once you have embraced these practices, you will be further ahead than 85% of all enterprises. At that point you can fine-tune your security strategy, map any remaining gaps and address risks with appropriate controls and monitoring. Remember that security is not a point-in-time event but a constant responsibility for all employees, an intrinsic part of business processes and an important part of the organization’s overall duties.

Once you have embraced these practices, you will be further ahead than the vast majority of enterprises. At that point you can fine-tune your security strategy, map any remaining gaps and address risks with appropriate controls and monitoring. Remember that security is not a point-in-time event but a constant responsibility for all employees, an intrinsic part of business processes and an important part of the organization’s overall duties.