Security posture is a term often mentioned in cybersecurity, with businesses often told to improve or maintain a robust security posture.
With the onset of 2024, now is a better time than ever to take stock of your company's security posture and plan to strengthen it.
This article clarifies what a security posture is and provides some tips on performing an effective security posture assessment.
A security posture is the overall security status of an organization.
Security measures like firewalls, antivirus software, intrusion detection systems, encryption and other technical controls.
Levels of employee security awareness about threats and levels of practicing good security hygiene.
Security postures can weaken or strengthen over time due to many complex factors.
A robust security posture is proactive, covers all aspects of security across the organization, and regularly assesses and updates security measures to adapt to evolving threats.
Cybersecurity frameworks like NIST allude to security posture by describing different cyber maturity levels.
The highest tier, Optimized, describes organizations that show continuous improvement and adaptation to new threats, advanced risk management and security integration.
These frameworks provide structured approaches for assessing security posture and are widely recognized.
Review the existing security controls and policies in place.
Consider penetration testing to simulate cyberattacks and test the resilience of your security measures.
Involve multiple departments in the assessment process to get a holistic view of the security posture and understand how security measures impact different areas of the business.
Look at security practices and case studies in different industries and consider how what they do could be adapted to strengthen the overall security of your business.
Analyze security incidents over the last 12 months, both within your organization and in similar industries, to identify patterns or recurring vulnerabilities that may still be relevant.
Big Wins for Strengthening Security Postures While the tweaks and improvements to make will vary among each individual business, there are some general big difference-makers that can improve the security posture of any company.
Leverage outside help to address security talent shortages by using managed security services like managed detection and response.
Overall, security posture is something you should always be looking to improve.
Once each year, take a good hard look at where your company is at in terms of the overall strength of its security program.
This Cyber News was published on securityboulevard.com. Publication date: Tue, 02 Jan 2024 18:13:04 +0000