Best Practices for Enhancing Cybersecurity

The Digital Operational Resilience Act is forcing affected companies to increase their own IT security. However, it also makes a lot of sense to invest in cyber security independently of a regulation . Doing so arms you against attacks and incidents. It also provides stability, a stronger competitive position and increased trust.

It is therefore worthwhile – even for companies outside of the financial sector – to comprehensively review their IT security, embrace digital operational resilience testing and make the associated investments.

The following best practices can help.

Best practice #1: Implement structured cyber defense

In an emergency, IT, security and management teams need to communicate with each other in a secure and structured manner. Predefined and proven processes save time and avoid errors. An adequate cyber defense solution not only provides everyone involved with a quick overview and automates workflows, but also promises absolutely secure encryption and extended compliance functions.

Best practice #2: Rely on suitable IT services

Commissioning external provision of IT services increases the scope for companies and therefore also their ability to react flexibly to security incidents. Good scalability, easy access to specialist knowledge, a lower workload and professional IT management are just some of the benefits. This is particularly important when working with a critical ICT third party.

Best Practice #3: Provide IT asset  management

IT asset management describes the systematic management of IT assets – such as computers, software, networks and important information. By managing this centrally, information silos and risks can be avoided.

Best Practice #4: Create an incident response plan

With a sophisticated emergency plan, it is possible to respond quickly and appropriately to security incidents. Preparing for possible threats is crucial for a high level of cybersecurity. An Incident Response Plan (IPR) typically includes roles, responsibilities, escalation paths, communication protocols and technical steps to deal with security incidents.

Best Practice #5: Analyze and monitor threats

The best defense is to prevent a threat from emerging in the first place. It is therefore advisable to monitor networks for unauthorized activities and implement appropriate systems. Those who use threat intelligence to collect, analyze and disseminate data on threats can react quickly and neutralize them before they become acute.

Best Practice #6: Secure IoT devices

The Internet of Things (IoT) has become very important – and continues to expand. However, it also entails a number of security risks. To protect yourself as much as possible, standard passwords should not be used for the relevant devices and the software should be updated regularly. It is also advisable to deactivate unnecessary functions and services.

Best Practice #7: Work with ethical hackers

No one can thwart a successful hacker attack as well as hackers themselves. Using ethical hackers on your own systems is the best way to ensure the best possible level of security.

Essentially, there are two possible outcomes:

• Ethical hackers do not find relevant vulnerabilities, which is an optimal reassurance that a system is secure.
• Relevant vulnerabilities come to light so that the organizations concerned can eliminate them before an emergency occurs.

More practices

In addition, there are lots of other steps that can be taken by businesses seeking to keep their people, processes and tools safe, including:

• Multi-factor authentication
• Regular software updates
• Regular review of access rights
• Regular backups of critical data
• Secure handling of emails

The Right Software Can Help

When it comes to cyber security, it’s all about having the right software, in two ways:

1. The software used must be secure and legally compliant.

2. Special security solutions are needed – especially in the DORA sector and for critical infrastructure (KRITIS) – in order to provide comprehensive protection and to be able to react quickly and appropriately to possible incidents.

How software solutions increase protection

Security and compliance are among the core requirements for software solutions. However, adequate protection is not a given. Compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), using secure servers in Europe, enabling comprehensive authentication and applying advanced security methods form a good standard.

Systems should also be audit-ready with uneditable documentation about mitigation activities. This can act as a means of having all action steps and communication published in the official journal. Systems should also be equipped with automated backups.

Overall, a strongly protected cloud solution without compliance risks, for example, can quickly put organizations on the right path. Those who rely on a professionally managed and comprehensively monitored solutions usually increase protection much more efficiently than through internal security measures. This creates a good basis for complying with regulations such as DORA and significantly minimizes the risk of attacks and incidents.

Why special cyber defense solutions are so important

There is no shortage of cyber risks or security vulnerabilities. Organizations need to be prepared for the worst, regardless of how secure their IT systems and security measures already are. The threat level is increasing and the DORA regulation clearly shows that a robust cyber defense solution is highly recommended.

This is not only about handling security incidents as effectively as possible and being able to communicate in a structured manner between the teams involved, but also about pushing security to the highest possible level – right up to meeting military standards.

Conclusion: See DORA as an opportunity

Regulations such as DORA cost organizations a lot of time, money and nerves. It is not always easy to comply with them in every respect. Regulations often do not have a positive connotation and many people doubt their usefulness.

Now, however, DORA brings together existing regulations and thus reduces the “regulatory madness” to which many organizations are exposed. In addition, the financial sector – including the areas that interact with it – has high security standards already. DORA is simply a good impetus for meeting these. In other words, the regulation is a challenge, but even more so an opportunity to implement steps that can be invaluable for practical reasons, given the high threat level.

In today’s business world, security and compliance depend heavily on the software solutions used. So making the right choices in this area, implementing comprehensive protection features and keeping everything up to date provides an excellent basis for consistently complying with regulations such as DORA.