The Business Guide to Digital Transformation
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This white paper discusses the current risks in digital transformation that make SMBs particularly vulnerable to attack, as well as the three essential steps of managed security services to mitigate them.
The appropriate level of proactive security and monitoring will keep customers from overspending on security, or the steep cost of a data breach.
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Why a Digital Transformation Makes Businesses Vulnerable
Each year, more and more businesses pour their resources and large portions of their budget into digital transformation. It often fails to make the impact that leaders hope to achieve, though; research shows that 70% of all digital transformations do not reach their intended goals. While some articles like to point to organizational issues or employee mindsets as the reason for their failures, companies themselves report that it is security that presents many of their challenges. In one study of over 270 businesses, leaders pointed to security issues as their most significant barrier to a successful digital transformation. However, only 34% of these organizations stated that they considered cybersecurity issues during the development stage. Organizations that fail to take security into account during their digital transformation risk having the entire plan compromised before reaching the intended goals.
Cybercriminals tend to strike SMBs because they typically have lax security standards and less budget for protecting their data than enterprises. They can target a large number of them at once, leading to exploitable data that is often just as valuable as that of larger companies. While SMBs turn to digital transformation to be more cost-effective, it can turn out to be more costly if they fall victim to a data breach. IBM’s “Cost of a Data Breach” report found that the average cost of a data breach was $8.19 million in the United States. They also discovered that SMBs end up paying more on average than enterprises: Organizations between 500-1000 employees paid $3,533 per employee for a data breach, as opposed to $204 per employee for enterprises with more than 25,000.1
SMBs that undergo digital transformation are particularly vulnerable to attack because their security may not always match their expansion in technology. Also, attacks continue to become more sophisticated, which SMBs might not be prepared to defend against. SMBs fall victim to ransomware, phishing, distributed denial-of-service, and social engineering attacks. The evolving attacks and subsequent financial consequences should cause any SMB alarm.
Risks Involved in the Digital Transformation
The term “digital transformation” has been maligned by experts and leaders because it is a vague and broad term, encompassing a wide range of technologies. In this whitepaper, we will touch on the most common technology adopted in the digital transformation for SMBs.
The common aspects of digital transformation for SMBs include:
How to Protect Your Business For a Digital Transformation
A managed security service that understands the complexities of both a digital transformation and SMBs should be able to pinpoint potential vulnerabilities, provide the security level needed to account for any changes to technology, and continue to provide monitoring for your organization.
Identify Vulnerabilities in Your Digital Transformation Plan
Cybersecurity begins as soon as the plan for a digital transformation starts to form. It needs to be a part of the initial plan considered each step of the way. SMBs are a particular target because their security does not always evenly match their growth, leaving gaps and vulnerability. Digital transformation and security must be coordinated in tandem to avoid this potentially catastrophic mistake.
IBM conducted a study of the most successful transformations, and found that those who had a greater appreciation and emphasis on the importance of security ended up with a more successful outcome. These “high performers,” as the research paper referred to them, were less likely to suffer a data breach during their process.
Identify what digital transformations your organization hopes to accomplish. Note where you would like to expand into IoT, BYOD, remote work, or more cloud apps. Be sure to include the details of your plans to see where the potential vulnerabilities might be. Also, make a list of the physical and virtual computing devices in the company. Workstations, laptops, printers, mobile devices, network application servers, corporate firewalls, and network file servers should be included in the assessment.
Determine the Level of Security Needed
Once you understand what you want to accomplish and the potential vulnerabilities, you can determine what level of security is needed. Below are the vital security services for a successful digital transformation.
Continuous Monitoring
A serious mistake made by many SMBs is to overspend on prevention to the detriment of detection and response capabilities. While prevention is a vital aspect of protecting sensitive information, attacks change and can strike at any moment. The faster a company can respond to an attack, the easier it will be to contain and reduce the amount of damage that can be done.
Maintain a solid foundation of security with ongoing remote monitoring and management. Finding and maintaining new software patches and updates, as well as updating security measures based on new threats, will ensure continuous protection against cyber criminals.
| IoT | BYOD | Remote work | Cloud apps |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Antivirus
Installing and monitoring antivirus on all devices to secure every point of entry. |
Email encryption
End-to-end encryption directly on user devices ensures information only ends up in the right hand |
Secure emplyees anytime, anywhere
Provide a VPN connection to remote workers to secure access to company data and applications. |
Backup and disaster recovery
Prevents you from losing sensitive and valuable data in case of accident or emergency. |
|
Regular vulnerability scans
Regular scans ensure that antivirus, passwords, and any other software is up to date. |
SSL decryption
Secure Internet Gateway inspects all ports and protocols to ensure threats can’t make it to your network, and fills gaps in security left by traditional appliances. |
Security awareness and training
Educate employees on practices that protect themselves and your company, such as recognizing scams and creating strong passwords. |
Secure Web Gateway
Acting as a virtual security guard, any detection from the cloud immediately blocks all threats for all customers within the network. |
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Data loss prevention
Prevents users from sharing sensitive data and regulates what data can be transferred. |
Secure Authentication
There are several ways to achieve this, but password policies and multi-factor authentication (MFA) are some first steps. |
Enforcable processes and policies
Make sure everyone knows how to keep the company safe. Establish clear direction regarding what data needs protecting and how. |
Patch Management
Installing patches and keeping them up-to-date can help resolve the inherent vulnerabilities of cloud apps. |
Summary
Digital transformations are an inevitable change for SMBs. However, it leaves organizations vulnerable to newer and more sophisticated threats. IoT, BYOD, remote work, and cloud applications all have unique challenges that businesses must be aware of. Managed security services can help SMBs identify potential compromises and reduce vulnerabilities while improving their processes for a stronger business. These services can help you embrace change and technology, knowing that you have protection for both you and your customers.
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