The IT security arena has been tempestuous of late, to say the least, as hackers continue to pose a serious threat to healthcare organizations, consumers and public-sector agencies. Because of how quickly technology has progressed in the past few years - as well as the rapidity of adoption among companies of all industries and sizes - the fact that leaders are struggling to craft and execute an effective security program should not be all that surprising.
Although much of the attention has been placed on entities covered by stringent regulatory compliance such as financial services firms and health care providers, others are increasingly under the gun to protect their data and systems from threats. Regardless of how sensitive decision-makers might believe their information to be, a data breach will almost always translate to disruption, financial loss and hurt reputations in the eyes of current and prospective clientele.
More progressive strategies coupled with strong solutions, including email encryption and secure cloud services, can help to mitigate some of the more prevalent threats to corporate continuity, and should be used as soon as possible if enterprises want to avoid becoming the subject of the next major news headline. Manufacturers are among the most aggressive adopters of new technology, and fall into the category of firms that need to get moving on more advanced security strategies as a result.
The brass tacks
Manufacturing.net recently explained some of the ways in which industry players can begin to improve their security performances, and affirmed that the time to do so is now given the rapidly rising costs of experiencing a major event. The source first cited a finding of a Ponemon Institute study that estimated the average damages of a breach to have increased by roughly 23 percent in the past two years to make it clear that the threat level is indeed high and rising.
This wide-reaching report brings all industries into the equation, and there is no doubt that some of the more massive instances of attacks - including those that struck the retail and health care sectors - brought that average up. However, manufacturers and others are not necessarily saved from the brunt of the problem. According to the news provider, these firms need to become more focused upon comprehensive strategies that bring employee training, data management and system monitoring all under one umbrella.
When security is comprehensive and streamlined, it will generally be more affordable to uphold strategies, and the actions involved will yield more heavily fortified defenses against virtually every type of threat. Manufacturing.net went on to explain that foresight is critical in this arena, as risk is evolving so quickly across the sector and outside of it, meaning that persistent evaluation, analysis and overhauls are necessary to make a difference in the war on cybercrime.
Getting support
Many companies will struggle to get the right strategy in order and support it with adequate solutions, and this is largely the result of IT departments being stretched thin and expertise not being all that common therein. Managed service providers have become far more common in the security aspects of corporate management of late because of these shortfalls and setbacks, and should always be viewed as viable options to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of defense.
Manufacturers and others that are looking to deploy more advanced IT frameworks in the coming years should consider leveraging the support of an MSP for secure cloud, email encryption and other aspects of protection, as investing more in defense can save them from serious headaches in the future.
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