How to Build Cyber Resilience for Your Business

Published 10/22/2021, 9:00am

Keeping a business safe from unexpected cyber incidents means more than just investing in protection. It means creating new and better ways to ensure your business has not only maximum protection, but also the necessary level of resiliency to bounce back from an attack. A cyber resilience plan can lay the groundwork that ensures a business can function despite interruption. It can mean the difference between persistence and prosperity or stoppages and shutting down. 

Incidents can take any form—from a ransomware attack or data breach to a natural disaster or global pandemic. To manage and survive the effects of an incident, organizations need to build a plan that can be successfully implemented during the crisis. 

In this blog, we’ll examine some key strategies and steps used when producing a cyber resilience plan and how to apply them to ensure the creation of a comprehensive and useful plan. 

Identification

The first step involves identifying critical products and services, any dependent support processes, and important assets. Identification also involves documenting business vulnerabilities and the potential for their contribution to a threat. Finally, the identification process means determining the risk criteria to measure the potential impact of incidents. The risk criteria process also involves the creation of a risk management program. 

Business Impact Analysis 

A business impact analysis helps an organization understand its ability to tolerate loss. Utilizing the results of a BIA, businesses can evaluate capabilities, create strategies, and determine any necessary investments. An analysis may also include tabletop exercises—the process of creating and engaging in incident scenarios to improve overall business readiness. 

Planning

The planning process means taking time to understand any additional requirements the business may need to weather an event, such as insurance or additional assets necessary to care for employees and customers. Planning also involves building relationships with alternative suppliers in case the business encounters supply chain issues.

Additional Strategic Risk Processes

Risk assessments and other risk processes help determine which parts of a business are most likely to be impacted by an incapacitating event. When creating a cyber resilience plan, it is important to address the risks facing your organization. Businesses should examine the following:

• Assess specific risks to critical products and services
• Determine business impact 
• Prioritize business continuity management (BCM) efforts
• Develop business continuity strategies
• Address personnel Impacts
• Exercise and rehearse

Cyber Resilience Plan Components

The fundamental components of a cyber resilience plan include:

• Emergency/Incident Response 
• Crisis and Incident Management
• Business Continuity
• Disaster Recovery
• Communication

No business’s cyber defenses are flawless. A cyber resilience plan developed using these strategies and approaches can help an organization prepare for an incident and ensure operational continuity. To learn more about cyber resilience plans, download our in-depth white paper: Tips for Drafting Cyber Resilience Plans for Your Business, which also includes a comprehensive cyber resilience checklist.