Laurence Cadieux
At the start of a new year, people around the world make “resolutions” to improve their lives in one way or another regarding their health, career, time management, etc.
Of course, people aren’t the only ones who make resolutions. Businesses also do this when establishing their top organizational priorities for the year ahead. And while many objectives are important, one urgent concern should be foremost in every IT professional’s mind: strengthening IT security.
This idea brings us to our first poll question of the year: What are your top IT security priorities in 2024?
IT security includes any tool, policy, practice, strategy, or technology that helps limit access to computers, networks, and information. IT security also embraces cybersecurity, which is rooted in safeguarding data from threats that could occur over the Internet, such as phishing, malware, SQL injections, and so on.
Some priorities could include…
- Fully implement a Privileged Access Management (PAM) solution. 74% of data breaches start with privileged credential abuse.
- Provide your end users with comprehensive IT security training. 88% of security breaches are caused by human error.
- Replace a slow, insecure VPN with a fast, secure just-in-time gateway solution.
- Increase your backup frequency. Due to ransomware, only backing up data on a nightly basis is no longer sufficient. 71% of businesses say that they have been hit with at least one ransomware attack, and the average ransomware payment has surged to $4.4 million (all figures in this article USD).
- Get suitable cybersecurity coverage. The average cyberattack insurance claim cost for SMBs is now $139,000 per claim, which is more than double the 2021 average. Also, as we discussed a few months ago, getting cybersecurity coverage means that you will probably need a good PAM solution, too.
- Make sure that all end users — including executives! — ONLY use strong, unique passwords/passphrases. You don’t want anyone in your organization even coming close to using credentials that appear on the annual “Worst Passwords” list.
- Enable MFA. Yes, most of you have already done so. But there are still some organizations that haven’t — often because some non-technical end users find MFA mildly inconvenient. Perhaps they need to be reminded that the financial toll of a cyberattack on SMBs now ranges from $120,000 to $1.24 million per incident. Spending an extra 10 seconds to log into an account is hardly an unreasonable request given the potential consequences!
These are just a few possible priorities you might have. You are welcome to share anything and everything that is on your IT security roadmap for 2024.
We also invite you to share your IT security priorities even if, at this time, you do not yet have the budget and/or approval that you need to make them happen. After all, you have to know WHERE you need to go before you focus on HOW to get there, right?
You Could Win
Simply by participating in the poll and sharing your IT security priorities with the Devolutions community, you’ll be automatically entered to win one of two $25 Amazon gift cards.
We will announce the winners when we look at the responses in early February.
Thank you in advance for participating. We can’t wait to see what is on your IT security agenda for 2024!
Steven Lafortune
