Cybersecurity Rated No. 1 Risk to Business in 2022

Data breach costs can total in the millions, not to mention the damage to your reputation. Here are a few strategies to combat this threat.

After too many well-known data breaches over the last two years, cybersecurity has jumped into the top position on every company’s radar. Globally, risk management experts rated cyber incidents as the biggest risk to business, according to the Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty survey, surpassing natural catastrophes and even pandemic outbreaks.

In October, Microsoft admitted to a security lapse that left an endpoint publicly accessible over the internet without authentication. This misconfiguration led to a data leak of 65,000+ companies. Uber was also hit in September of 2022, and Flagstar Bank is still reeling from its data breach that affected more than 1.5 million customers in 2021.

“Cybersecurity’s importance is on the rise,” says Abi Tyas Tunggal on UpGuard. “Fundamentally, our society is more technologically reliant than ever before, and there is no sign this trend will slow.”

A Costly Mistake

The number of global corporate cyber attacks rose 50% last year, according to the news website Cyber Security Intelligence. Europe saw the highest percentage increase at 68%, followed by North America at 61%.

The Poneman Institute estimates the average cost of a global data breach in 2022 as $4.35 million. The United States fares worse, according to Statista.com, where the total skyrockets to an average of $9.44 million up from $9.05 just last year. This number takes into account all data compromises, including data breaches, data leakage, and data exposure.

“While these are three different events, they have one thing in common,” Statista.com states. “As a result of all three incidents, the sensitive data is accessed by an unauthorized threat action.”

Our digital world requires decision-makers to have a complete understanding of the threat environment in which they operate and how to strengthen their security protection, both of which are vital to supporting and maintaining systems and safeguarding those systems from new and emerging security vulnerabilities.

But how do you add that extra level of security necessary to combat these threats?

Knowledge Is Power

Utilizing third-party software maintenance provides companies with choices and more options with which to defend their environments from security threats to map out a level of clear self-determined acceptable risk.

To achieve this, it is important to obtain a deeper insight into the threats a company faces by employing threat intelligence. One route is through a combination of machine-driven intelligence and analysts who monitor dark web activity. Using both AI and human insights can increase security by verifying, flagging, and making sense of potential threats.

Having 24/7/365 access to tailored, actionable intelligence enables an efficient and effective response to potential risks and allows companies to leverage various threat warning sources. These flagged potential risks should then be analyzed by threat experts to determine if they are credible. If found legitimate, security and specialist engineering teams can mitigate them.

It’s important to understand your wider environment, what it delivers, and how it works. This includes assessing the people, processes, technologies, and regulatory environment. Multilayered defenses can be put in place to protect the organization, including encryption, software controls, and proxy servers. Identifying and implementing a wide range of mitigating actions exponentially increases security without touching the source code.

Adding In-Depth Insight

Origina recently partnered with SecAlliance, a provider of world-class intelligence services and actionable solutions for businesses, organizations, and agencies around the blog, to expand Origina’s service offerings to include enhance proactive cybersecurity for IBM® software products.

“Through this partnership, Origina provides deep insight into the contextual threat environment and offers customers a single point of access to threat intelligence and technical mitigation,” says Ben Lipczynski, Head of Security Services at Origina. “This service is available to support IBM and divested products regardless of version, custom code, or configuration. We can apply specific context for customers’ operational, business, and threat environments and address potential security risks.”

How Does It Work?

After SecAlliance validates a potential vulnerability, a collaboration between Origina’s security team and its global independent experts address that vulnerability with targeted solutions to proactively mitigate the threat. This service is available to support IBM and divested products regardless of version, custom code, or configuration and can apply specific context for customers’ operational, business, and threat environments to address these potential security risks.

“This is an important milestone in the evolution of Origina and cements our position as an innovative leader in the third-party maintenance and support industry,” says Rowan O’Donoghue, Co-Founder and Chief Technical Officer at Origina. “Over the years, we have listened to our customers and responded by building a comprehensive security offering to ensure their IBM® software products are protected against new and emerging security threats.”

This partnership makes offering custom solutions possible. Along with proactively monitoring the product threat environment, customers will receive customized alerts to potential vulnerabilities.

“They have a single point of access to threat intelligence and technical mitigation,” Lipczynski says. “They don’t have to do it alone.”

Want more information on bolstering the cybersecurity of your IBM estate? Contact Origina today.