Stolen information and data will not lead to the end of the business. It is not a great sign for the business either. Studies and research indicate that a data breach in an organization’s network can lead to a loss of $15.4 million, and the amount increases each year. People do not want to lose their money because of some issues or vulnerabilities in the system, do they? Indeed, businesses and organizations cannot make mistakes. These mistakes can lead to the loss of data, but a large organization is bound to make such mistakes. What the organization must do is to learn from those mistakes. You cannot expect your organization to do the exact thing repeatedly only because the outcome may change at one point. This chapter covers the different mistakes organizations make. You must protect your organization from making such mistakes during these times. 

Every organization must focus on understanding how and where the data flows. It should also look at where the data is saved. Remember, data is the livelihood of your company. It is only when you assess and identify the flow of data that you can see where it must be protected. You must know if the data is flowing out of your organization and who it is shared with. When you have visibility, you will know what ends the hacker can attack. You will also know where you can catch the hacker. 

Vulnerabilities will reside across the database, systems, applications, and network. These vulnerabilities now extend to various devices like the IoT or Internet of Things and smartphones. Organizations must test these devices and connections regularly to scan for any vulnerabilities. This book covers the different processes you can use to perform this task. You can also perform some penetration tests to learn about the vulnerabilities. Remember, you cannot guess the vulnerabilities, and will only find them when you test them. 

It is true that prevention is not an anachronism. As technology advances, so make the threats against it. Remember, a hacker will find a way to enter the border. A firewall will not always protect your systems if you have an employee who does not know what he is doing. Once a hacker is inside the system, he can acquire privileged information. He can also pretend to be an employee of the organization. Hackers can evade any security scans for a long time. If you have better visibility, you can find a hacker and reduce the chances of data leaks.

Often, it is the simple things you can use to overcome and threats to the system. You must train all your employees. Help them understand the type of password they must use. They must perform the right actions as well. It is only when this happens that you can maintain the network components properly and minimize the risk of data loss. You can also find ways to configure the data to prevent any changes adequately. 

Remember to train your employees to know what they must do to prevent any attacks. The most common form of hack is a social engineering attack. The hacker will send information from a malicious source and mask the information to seem legit. He can then use the information the employee feeds into the website, and attack the configuration of the system and network. Make sure to train your staff about protecting their systems and how to identify social engineering attacks. 

Most businesses cannot set up their security operations center or center of excellence since they lack the budget. This does not mean you cannot monitor the security of the systems and network. You must investigate the network and look for any threats or vulnerabilities. You can use these methods to minimize the effect of an attack on the data and security. 

From earlier, you know vendor risks are the reasons for numerous data breaches. Hackers can enter the organization’s systems through the vendor’s application or network side. Therefore, you must have a plan to help you assess the risks in third-party systems. You can also read the reports they share about their systems to learn more about their security. 

Most hackers use malware to establish their presence in a system or network. Once they are inside the network or system, they will use different strategies to perform the hack and move through your network. So, you need to find hack into the system in a legitimate way and perform the hack to detect any vulnerabilities. The previous chapters covered the different methods you can use to perform this type of testing.

This is one of the biggest mistakes most companies make. Some organizations do not protect their business and network since they believe cybercriminals do show mercy. This is never going to happen. Cybercriminals will attack any company, regardless of its size. You must prepare your defenses and identify the response to an attack. This will help you minimize the damage and react faster to any threats if the day does come.

You must understand that security must mature over time, and this is one of the primary objectives of an information security professional. In some instances where businesses have reached high levels of maturity, security is a part of the organization’s culture. You must obtain permissions and approvals from the management before you investigate any attacks or the systems. This is explained in detail earlier in the book.