Many businesses struggle with data protection due to rising cyber-attacks aimed towards stealing and exploiting confidential company information and customer data. Recent security research even found that the first half of 2019 experienced data breaches that exposed 4.1 billion records.
This alarming figure alone makes it crucial now more than ever for businesses to ensure they have the right security measures for effective data privacy and protection. By getting the cyber essentials certification, businesses can assess their existing cybersecurity measures and establish the right key security controls to help prevent cyber attacks.
Cyber essentials can provide tons of benefits to cybersecurity, and companies who are hesitant about getting accredited could be missing out on excellent strategies that can enhance data security. In this post, we’ll look into the role of cyber essentials in data privacy and protection and how it can help businesses reduce the risks of attacks.
Essential security controls
Data breaches are still some of the biggest cyber threats to businesses, but with properly implemented technical controls, security risks can be reduced to a minimum. With cyber essentials, businesses can get baseline protection from common cyber attacks and vulnerabilities by going through a security checklist that they can use to assess the easily overlooked and simple areas in their IT infrastructure.
For businesses to achieve cyber essentials accreditation, they must check if they set the right technical controls before processing and storing customer data — such as having secure configuration, access controls, malware protection, patch management, and firewalls.
For instance, having malware protection helps businesses establish good practices for their employees to follow — such as avoiding using unsanctioned removable devices and opening email attachments from unknown senders.
This way, businesses can protect their customer data and other confidential information from threats like malware and phishing attacks. Cyber essentials will also help businesses determine whether or not they have taken appropriate steps to protect against common cyber threats through vulnerability scans of their systems.
Although there are other sophisticated and new approaches to data security, protecting business-critical information at the primary level will always be a good cybersecurity measure.
Opportunity to assess internal security
One of the first steps to establishing robust cybersecurity measures for data protection and privacy is by assessing current internal controls. Getting the cyber essentials certification requires businesses to fill out a questionnaire relating to the five technical controls and how they are managed within the company.
Questions can include “Are businesses preventing users from installing unsanctioned applications?” and “Are obsolete and out-of-date software removed from internet-connected network devices?”
Through this process, businesses get the opportunity to conduct security audits and vulnerability scans to meet the control requirements for cyber essentials certification and check their current cybersecurity measures.
For example, conducting an assessment for the cyber essentials certification will give insights into the steps companies are taking to ensure data protection and privacy. This includes establishing access controls to customer information databases to reduce the risks of unauthorized users accessing confidential data.
The assessment will help businesses determine whether or not the access controls they have in place are strong enough to withstand basic cyber attacks and take immediate action to remedy identified security flaws in their system.
Mitigating data security risks
Without the right security controls, businesses could be leaving their data vulnerable to cyber-attacks. With the cyber essentials scheme, companies can mitigate the potential risks to data privacy and protection by ensuring that they have the right technical controls in place.
However, there are many cybersecurity risks that businesses could be exposed to, such as data breaches that can cause massive network outages, if they don’t establish security controls properly. Not only can this lead to potential cyber-attacks that can cause massive data loss and expensive costs for damages, but it can also negatively impact business operations.
Plus, there are security risks that no amount of sophisticated technology might be able to protect from – human error. The risks from human error and lack of security awareness can pose as many dangers to businesses as much as external threats as these can lead to successful data theft and breach of privacy.
This is why companies need to proactively resolve their vulnerabilities through cyber essentials to help ensure that customer data and business-critical information remain protected even from some of the most common cyber threats.
Through the cyber essentials scheme, businesses can assess their existing security systems, and data continuity and backup processes, plus the chance to improve weaknesses before attackers can find and exploit their vulnerabilities.
Improve business efficiency
Securing customer data isn’t just a moral obligation that companies need to fulfill, but it’s also good for their business — along with other benefits in terms of compliance, improving cybersecurity systems, and establishing credibility.
For instance, cyber essentials will help companies take the initial steps towards the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance by identifying data security best practices.
Businesses that get the cyber essentials certification can also show their commitment to data security, not just of their customers but also securing their supply chains. This can nurture the trust companies build with their customers and suppliers since getting accredited means businesses get to display the cyber essentials badge on their website. Plus, with the cyber essentials badge displayed on the website of business owners, they can demonstrate their credibility — which can help attract more clients, customers, investors, and more.
That being said, cyber essentials can give the peace of mind companies need to focus on core objectives knowing that they are protected from the majority of common cyber threats and maintain data privacy and security — which can drive better business efficiency.
Final Thoughts
Cyber essentials play a crucial role in helping businesses ensure data privacy and protection against common threats. By getting accredited, companies can assess their network devices and IT systems for data security, identify vulnerabilities, and take preventive actions for data security.
Not only will cyber essentials improve the security controls businesses have in place, but it can also help companies show suppliers, investors, and customers that they are operating on data security best practices.