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4 key capabilities that every successful Cybersecurity Operations possesses

The storm of cybersecurity challenges that faces organizations in the Nordics today puts them under a lot of pressure.

Oskar Ehrnström / December 21, 2018

Not only do they have to defend against adversaries that are highly motivated and very well-funded; they have to do so at the same time as they themselves are transforming at a faster pace than ever.

On top of this, society and other stakeholders are demanding a higher level of security by continuously introducing new regulations and legislation.

"So, how can we ensure that we are one of the successful ones, the one who actually builds a Cybersecurity Operations that is strong and adaptive, and at the same time cost effective" you might ask? There are four things that all successful Cybersecurity Operations have in common. They will be the cornerstones on which your Cybersecurity Operations rests.

“Cybersecurity Operations is the process that tells us what we need to do to ensure a strong cyber defense”

Before we look at the recipe of a successful Security Operations, it is important to understand that Cybersecurity Operations is not a physical Center. Yes, the Security Operations Center is an important contributor, but Cybersecurity Operations is the process that tells us what we need to do to ensure a strong cyber defense.

So, if you want to be successful in your Cybersecurity Operations, you need these four capabilities at hand.

1. Protection and Prevention

Design and implement the necessary security controls (Endpoint protection, Next Gen Firewall, IAM etc.) needed to prevent and protect against attacks in all attack phases. Policies and technology should empower each other to reach highest level of effectiveness. And start quantifying* your efforts and effectiveness.

2. Detection

"Assume breach" is the guiding principle of most large organizations today. And to detect a breach that was not prevented you need to monitor, correlate, enrich and analyze threat and vulnerability intelligence collected from both internal as well as external sources. Don't forget to quantify* your efforts and effectiveness.

3. Response

When a breach is detected, the accuracy of your response will be very much determined by the quality of your detection. Investigate the incident and remediate as fast as possible to limit the damage. Quantify*!

4. Adaption

Your Cybersecurity capabilities needs to constantly evolve, and the evolution is mostly fueled by three main influences;

A) Incidents

If you have been measuring your efforts and effectiveness, it is not that difficult to realize what you need to do in order to minimize the risk of happening again.

B) External changes

You have to constantly adapt to changes in the threat landscape.

C) Internal changes

Your organizational and business needs will change as you develop and adopt new digital services and business models.

Your ability to adapt and evolve your Cybersecurity Operations will determine your future success in terms of cyber resilience. But it will also help you maintain control and efficiency of your cybersecurity spending.

Reach out to me if you want to learn the fastest road to success.

*Quantify what and where, so that you can measure your cybersecurity effectiveness. Which defense efforts have been deployed, and where have they been implemented? Which threats have you encountered (both that you managed to protect against, as well as those that has been detected after breach) and where? What's the cost of managing them, both CAPEX and OPEX?

Oskar Ehrnström
Head of Cybersecurity Sweden, Tietoevry Tech Services

With over 25 years of experience in sales and marketing, and with 13 of those as a leader and trusted advisor within cybersecurity, Oskar drives business innovation and transformation at Cybersecurity Services.

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