If you’re looking for a magic number, by our calculations, it’s 11…or maybe 8…or perhaps sometimes 10.
The thing is, there really isn’t a magic number. Good thing you’re not just looking for a number, though, right? We’re going to guess that you’re trying to figure out what these layers are and which layers your business really needs.
Our goal is to help you understand the many different layers that go into a business cybersecurity solution and why you should be taking a multilayered approach to your company’s cybersecurity. We say that the magic number is somewhere around 11. In all actuality, your magic number will depend on your individual business’s specific needs, which can vary based on
- The size of your business
- Industry
- Hardware
- Software
- Employee knowledge
- Organization type, such as fully remote, hybrid, or on-premise
- Long-term business goals
By nature, technology is a rapidly evolving industry, and cybersecurity is an even more rapidly growing facet of technology. As cybersecurity defenses strengthen, cyberattacks become more sophisticated—rinse and repeat.
Your business will need to continuously reevaluate its cybersecurity needs as your goals change and technology advances. Identifying the layers of cybersecurity will help you understand the current state of cybersecurity and help you understand how cybersecurity aligns with your future business and technology goals.
The Swiss Cheese Model
When discussing cybersecurity or security solutions in general, the conversation doesn’t always involve layers, but it should. Like bundling up with multiple layers on a cold winter day, or towering on layers of cake and frosting, generally, the more layers, the better.
The easiest way to describe how layers work with cybersecurity is by imagining each layer as a slice of Swiss cheese. Each slice, while delicious on its own, has some holes. When you stack one slice on top of another, you cover up some of the holes. The real layering happens when you stack multiple slices on top of each other and cover most of the holes; however, there will always be some tiny, microscopic pathways that you won’t be able to see.
The danger occurs when someone uncovers one of those tiny little holes in your stack. Then, you quickly need to patch the hole or cover it up with yet another layer. If it’s been more than a year, or in many cases a quarter, since you reevaluated your cybersecurity solution, then it’s probably time to audit your existing stack to see if there are any new, more recently discovered gaps you need to cover up.
Why Should You Care About Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity isn’t just for large companies, private companies, or highly-regulated companies. Any company of any size could be the target of a cyberattack at any time. In fact, smaller businesses are often easy targets, with fewer layers of security for a hacker to navigate.
Over the past year or so, many companies have enabled more technology-based remote work options. More people are sharing an increasing amount of information online, and hackers have noticed. If you’re a business, you want to make sure that information is protected, right?
Your data is valuable and vulnerable
Think about all the digital information stored or accessible via your company’s desktops, laptops, servers, networks, and mobile devices. That’s passwords, files, birth dates, social security numbers, trade secrets, confidential documents, essential files, client information, and financial information. Leaving this information unprotected is like leaving the front door of your business wide open, so anyone who wanders by can walk in and take whatever they want.
Your digital information, including information about your customers, can be replicated and sold on the web. Personal and confidential information is easy to monetize and has a high price tag. With that in mind, you don’t want your business to be an easy target for bad actors.
Your company’s reputation is on the line
Imagine if your company gets hacked, and it goes public. Or, maybe your website gets hacked, and someone changes the content or steals customer credit card information. Even worse, if your customer data gets stolen and shared on the dark web—think back to the Equifax data breach that cost the company up to $425 million.
Personally, would you continue to do business with a company that puts your personal information at risk?
11 Layers of Cybersecurity
When it comes to building a comprehensive cybersecurity solution to help keep your business safe, we’ve identified 11 layers to consider when constructing a solution for your business. Every company is unique, which means there isn’t just one efficient, plug-and-play solution that fits every situation; however, many facets are foundational and best practice. It’s best to work with a cybersecurity expert to ensure your company’s solution meets your needs, goals, and budget.
1. Firewall
The firewall is the old cybersecurity standby. All too often, businesses assume that since they have a firewall, they’re protected from everything. Firewalls work by preventing incoming threats, combining certain cybersecurity facets like anti-virus, content filtering, intrusion prevention, and advanced threat protection to help keep the bad guys out. While they add a significant layer of protection, there are still gaps when preventing more advanced cybersecurity threats.
2. Email security
How many emails do you send in a day? How many emails do you open? How many attachments do you click on?
Email continues to be an easy way for hackers to make their way into business systems. For most organizations, people are the weakest security link, and email is a key gateway. Email security provides an extra layer of protection using filters, quarantines, and sandboxes to help prevent users from interacting with malicious content or installing dangerous applications.
3. Anti-virus
Anti-virus works by protecting your technology against known viruses, kind of like getting a flu shot. You’re preventing viruses that you know exist, but there could be an errant virus that makes its way into the system. Anti-virus is an essential layer of any cybersecurity solution; however, it isn’t designed to prevent zero-day threats and other types of emerging cyber threats.
4. Patching
Patches are regular updates to hardware, software, operating systems, and security files that seal previously exploited or newly identified vulnerabilities in the code. Having a patch policy, plan, and reboot schedule as part of your cybersecurity plan ensures your equipment is regularly receiving the patches it needs to help keep your system safe.
5. VPN connection
A virtual private network (VPN) is like having a secret, secure tunnel for off-network employees to safely access your company’s technology resources without leaving behind any open doors for the bad guys to sneak into. For companies with remote or hybrid employees, a secure VPN connection is critical for accessing company files and networks from outside of the office.
6. Endpoint protection and DNS filtering
With DNS filtering, you can limit access to potentially malicious or dangerous websites to help protect employees and equipment. Additionally, endpoint protection helps safeguard individual desktops, laptops, servers, and mobile devices from cyberattacks. It relies on both definition-based and behavior-based types of security to prevent device-based attacks.
7. Multifactor Authentication (MFA)
MFA ensures the person logging into your technology really is whom they say they are. With MFA, anyone logging into a specific account needs to verify their identity with an additional code, usually delivered through a mobile device or notification.
8. User Education and Security Awareness Training (SAT)
Having the right solutions and layers in place is essential for your business from a cybersecurity standpoint. Knowing how to use them, including defined cybersecurity best practices, is even better. It’s essential to educate your users on how to best use technology appropriately to prevent cyberattacks. We’re not talking about seminars and webinars, SAT is usually real-time training assessing an employee’s response to various staged/simulated attacks.
9. Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
EDR monitors behavior on your business’s devices and networks in real-time to detect cyberattacks. Once EDR detects a cyberattack, it alerts an administrator and quarantines the affected devices to prevent any further impact on your business. Moreover, as a behavior-based solution, EDR fills many of the gaps left behind by standard anti-virus.
10. Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
SIEM provides real-time analysis of your system’s events through a combination of AI and eyes on screens to detect and mitigate threats. Additionally, SIEM stores all your system’s log files for reference. Following a cyberattack, this cybersecurity layer aids systems administrators in restoring files, data, and information and helps them understand what happened to prevent future cyberattacks.
11. Data backup
No matter what, in case of a disaster, human error, or cyberattack, you should back up your data regularly. More information about data backup and recovery.
We Help Keep Your Business Safe.
At High Touch, we have the knowledge, tools, and experience to help protect your business, employees, and customers against cyberattacks. Contact us today to learn more about technology services and a cybersecurity solution for your business.