When last did you assess your organization’s business resilience? Knowing how prepared you are to respond to and recover from various disruptions to your operations is essential when it comes to guaranteeing long-term sustainability.
An important part of your business resilience strategy is cyber resilience, which focuses not only on your organization’s ability to prevent and defend against cyberattacks but also on how quickly you recover from a breach and continue operating. It’s a broader approach that incorporates aspects of security, risk management and business continuity.
Organizations that have suffered cyberattacks typically prioritize how quickly they can get their operations back online and resume business as usual. In these circumstances, recovery is, of course, critical. But cyber resilience extends to the capacity to foresee and mitigate threats while being prepared to restore critical services and regain the confidence of customers and stakeholders alike.
A shift in mindset limits damage down the line
This shift in mindset is crucial, as it addresses the evolving and sophisticated nature of cyberthreats.
Security and resilience by design is a proactive approach to cybersecurity that emphasizes embedding security measures and building resilient systems from the initial stages of development and throughout the entire lifecycle. This contrasts with traditional reactive methods that address security concerns after a product is built or deployed.
The importance of this shift is underscored by the significant impact of recent breaches.
For example, the UnitedHealth Group data breach in 2024 highlights the immediate and long-term costs of a cyberattack. The US healthcare provider’s Change Healthcare platform, which processed insurance claims, was infected with ransomware and rendered inaccessible. Many patients had to cover their own medical expenses because their claims couldn’t be processed on time, and it took months to recover the affected systems.
The immediate financial impact of this ransomware attack (including paying a $22 million ransom), the full cost of recovery, the 190 million customers affected and the loss of trust all served as stark reminders of the need for a proactive approach to cyber resilience.
Other notable attacks in 2024 include 560 million customer records being exposed at Ticketmaster and a ransomware incident at Evolve Bank & Trust, based in the US state of Arkansas, that compromised the personal information of more than 7.6 million customers.
Adopt an integrated security approach
An integrated security approach, also known as a holistic security approach, involves combining various security measures, technologies and processes to create a more comprehensive and effective defense against threats. This approach emphasizes coordinating different security areas — such as physical security, cybersecurity and governance — to strengthen your overall security posture. The focus should be on:
- A holistic view: An integrated approach recognizes that security is not just a technical issue but also involves people, processes and policies. It considers all aspects of your organization’s security — from physical access to digital data and everything in between.
- Coordinated security measures: Instead of relying on isolated security solutions, integrated security combines different security technologies and processes to create a cohesive framework. This ensures that security measures work together effectively, rather than in isolation.
- Centralized security management: This refers to consolidating your security operations into a single platform for real-time monitoring, incident response and policy enforcement.
- Unified threat intelligence: When you aggregate data from multiple sources, you gain a comprehensive view of the threat landscape.
- Integration: Your various security tools need to work together seamlessly.
- Risk management: Implementing comprehensive risk assessment, mitigation and acceptance processes will protect your assets and your employees.
Where AI makes an important difference
The good news is that AI has become an indispensable tool in the fight against cyberthreats.
Machine learning and GenAI are being used to automate threat management, incident response and other routine tasks such as log analysis and vulnerability scanning — all with great speed and accuracy. This leaves your human IT team free to focus on high-value activities.
And the benefits of AI in cybersecurity extend beyond automation to improve the depth and breadth of threat detection. Advanced machine-learning algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data in real time to spot patterns and anomalies that might escape human detection.
AI-driven behavioral analytics can detect deviations from normal user and system behavior, which may indicate a security breach, while predictive analytics can forecast potential security vulnerabilities and threats.
Moreover, AI can adapt to evolving threats, continuously learning and improving its capabilities to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals.
Establish accountability at the top
While technologies like AI can be a great help in speeding up response times and making threat analysis more accurate, cybersecurity is about much more than technology.
There are trade-offs between risk exposure and investment in security, and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. It’s therefore up to your leadership to set the strategic direction for cyber resilience so that security and recovery strategies can be tailored to your organization’s risk profile and business priorities.
Every part of your organization relies on trusted systems and data, which means every leader has a role to play in protecting them.
The board, CEO and CFO are accountable for ensuring cyber resilience across the enterprise, from data management to innovation and investor confidence. And without the close oversight of the CISO and the security team, the organization cannot adopt emerging technologies like GenAI both rapidly and securely — which will impede business growth.
CISOs therefore need to take a proactive approach to security management, collaborating with other business leaders and gaining top-down visibility of all their security controls.
Take the next step
By adopting a comprehensive, integrated approach to cyber resilience, you can protect against cyberthreats while also positioning your organization for a successful digital transformation.
That’s what we help you achieve with an integrated cybersecurity approach that takes advantage of our full-stack capabilities — including data centers, networks, private 5G technologies and more — and our technology lifecycle services.
Our clients have trusted us for more than three decades to safeguard their data and applications. What can we do for you?