Things You Should Be Spending Your Cybersecurity Budget On

Cybersecurity breaches are on the rise, both in the number of attacks and complexity. It’s normal that companies and organizations are focusing on cyber-resilience by investing time, money, and resources in enhancing their security stance to endure an ever-evolving threat landscape.

Although still not a huge part of the general business expenses budget, cybersecurity cost is nevertheless growing for many businesses in the hope of protecting their digital assets.

Simply investing larger amounts of money, nevertheless, is not a cure-all remedy and doesn’t ensure higher resilience for the company. Spending appropriately and wisely is the true challenge to maximize the Return on Investment (ROI). A high priority isn’t only to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current security infrastructure and detect where cybersecurity needs improvement, but also identify which assets are worth defending and the most effective way to do so.

It is likewise important to understand that technology alone won’t suffice to protect the workplace. The role of the company’s employees in cybersecurity is also growing.

How to Spend a Security-related Budget

Integrating authorization and authentication technologies are both key elements in which organizations need to invest. Using endpoint protection software, including good ransomware and malware protection, is vital to creating that layer of security that protects users and companies from intrusion attacks.

However, there are also other aspects a cybersecurity budget should be spent on to better protect the IT foundation from today’s most common digital threats. Helping the company withstand phishing, get their employees a PDPA certification, prevent breaches because of outdated software and keep pace with the evolving needs of the business and the world are important points.

Here are some of the items that an organization’s security budget should prioritize:

Workplace Awareness Training

Investing in educating employees on ways to be proactive in the face of cyberattacks is one of the wisest expenses, with the highest ROI, as per Osterman Research. The company’s workforce could be a powerful preventive measure against data breaches.

Training employees can be done in a lot of ways and even using innovative approaches that can be cost-effective. Formal training, contests, posters, tip-of-the-day emails, and computer-based courses can all contribute to raising awareness.

Cyber-education to Upskill Staff

Developing and maintaining the skill sets of the IT workforce can also result in a greater ROI. Ensuring a proper certification program is an effective way to make sure the IT employees are always updated in their specialty. There are a myriad of benefits in paying for an employee’s PDPA certification. Such an effort is particularly critical for cybersecurity personnel that are always facing new challenges in an ever-changing field.

Patching

Patching is an important element of an efficient cybersecurity strategy and should always be a priority for the IT team of any business or organization. Sadly, this aspect is oftentimes overlooked by managers who would rather dedicate time, money, and energy to other areas.

Organizations should invest resources in ensuring that patch management is a vital part of the weekly routine and that firmware and software are always secure and up to date. Strategies should be implemented firmly to make sure that automated patch application processes are effectively in place; and that all measures are tested and implemented as soon as they are available. This is also essential for regulatory compliance.

Third-party IT Security Services for Risk Management

It is evident how many companies and organizations are deciding to depend on the expertise and resources of third-party services that specialize in the cybersecurity field rather than attempting an in-house-only defense structure. This is often viewed as a cost-effective way and lets the company have constant access to experienced personnel, as well as state-of-the-art technology, without hefty operating costs.