Having a detection and response plan is key to disrupting and preventing ransomware attacks.
Over the longer term, the COO and CISO will want to team to create a culture shift across the business that puts cybersecurity at the forefront of technology planning rather than in the background as an afterthought. Security by design, where security becomes embedded into the design process for every new technology initiative, is one of the best ways to protect the organization from cyber attacks generally and ransomware attacks specifically. Consider embedding a member of the cybersecurity team into technology projects at their inception, with the role of providing guidance around security architecture and controls throughout the project lifecycle.
According to the EY Global Information Security 2021, 57% of respondents believe the current cybersecurity crisis provides an opportunity for the cybersecurity function to raise its profile within the organization. However, as the CISO, you will need to more visibly position the cybersecurity function as a value-add part of every technology project.
GISS survey results
57%of respondents believe the current cybersecurity crisis provides an opportunity for the cybersecurity function to raise its profile
As an operational or cybersecurity leader, you will want to test the policy you develop to understand the risks and tradeoffs of the decision to pay or not to pay, who the stakeholders are, what the process will be, who will have the authority to make the decision to pay, and at what point the organization will have to disclose the attack.
Once the policy and processes are in place, you will want to conduct, at least annually, internal assessments of implemented controls to determine their effectiveness and basic maturity assessments of key controls to make certain that the organization can withstand a ransomware attack.
Ultimately, to limit the impact of ransomware attacks, you will need to instill the company-wide importance that every worker at every level of the organization and across the ecosystem — from the board to the C-suite to management to entry-level employees to suppliers and partners — is responsible for thinking about the cybersecurity risks and acting to mitigate them. Create training programs to promote ransomware awareness.
Go from ransom-aware to ransom-resilient
The rise and acceleration of digital transformations are spreading the cyber attack surface, increasing the chances of a ransomware attack. By working together, COOs and CISOs can strengthen relationships between the business units and the cybersecurity function, and develop a cohesive detection and response plan for protection that takes an organization’s operations from ransom-aware to ransom-resilient.
Summary
The pressure to deliver digital transformation at speed, particularly during the pandemic, has led COOs to bypass cybersecurity processes. Not coincidentally, it’s at a time when cyber attacks are on the rise. Cyber threat actors are taking advantage of security gaps across people, technology and processes, and ransomware is their preferred method. COOs need to work closely with CISOs to prepare a detection and response plan, test it regularly, and create ransomware awareness across the organization.
