Securing Our World in 2024 With Cyber Risk Quantification

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TL;DR

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• Security is no longer dependent solely on physical behaviors; it now requires investment within the digital realm, with cyber risks potentially posing significant damage to businesses and individuals alike.
• To keep this new reality top-of-mind, CISA instituted Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which takes place every October. In 2023, it was decided that every year's theme would be "Secure Our World."
• This theme emphasizes the responsibility of all organizations to incorporate cybersecurity practices into daily operations.
• CISA's 2024 recommendations for cybersecurity include recognizing and reporting phishing, using strong passwords, enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA), and regularly updating software.
• On-demand cyber risk quantification (CRQ) likewise helps organizations secure the world by translating cyber threats into quantifiable financial terms, ensuring cyber risk management can be implemented in high-level decision-making processes. 
• CRQ also enables better prioritization of cybersecurity investments by identifying the most financially impactful threats and justifying budget allocations.
• CRQ also helps companies adhere to cybersecurity regulations and manage third-party supply chain risk, the latter of which is particularly critical in securing the world, considering the high level of reliance global corporations have on a select few providers. 
• Embracing quantified insights directly fuels Cybersecurity Awareness Month's ultimate goal of promoting the necessity of making data-driven decisions that lead to a more resilient and stable marketplace.

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Integrating Cybersecurity Into Everyday Risk Management Practices

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Security is no longer solely confined to the physical, dependent on bodily actions. With the advent of the internet, the mechanisms necessary for safeguarding assets and even lives have expanded into the cyber realm, where the risks can be even more complex. Indeed, a single cyber event has the power to render hospitals nonfunctional, halt mass transportation, block financial transactions, and cause billions of dollars worth of damages. 

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The pervasive nature of these threats and their potentially catastrophic impacts demands a shift in how they are perceived and managed. Rather than viewing cybersecurity as a technical and abstruse issue, it must be recognized as a critical component of risk management. Only by accepting and internalizing this new reality and subsequently developing the right strategies and habits in the personal and professional domains alike will the world become more resilient. 

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This October, as Cybersecurity Awareness Month is observed, its theme, "Secure Our World," serves as a reminder of this responsibility. Market stability and longevity demand that everyone integrate cybersecurity practices into their daily lives, whether it means thinking twice about clicking on that suspicious link, dedicating the time to take an online course, or, in the case of business leaders, elevating cyber into the boardroom, which can be facilitated with helpful tools such as cyber risk quantification (CRQ).

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To truly bridge the knowledge gap between the technical cyber world and the more physical one, leveraging the solutions that can translate complex risks into actionable insights becomes all the more essential.

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What is Cybersecurity Awareness Month?

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Twenty years ago, after a campaign was launched by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCA), the US President and Congress agreed to dedicate the month of October to cybersecurity awareness. At first, this initiative promoted a more proactive approach to online safety, providing valuable resources and information that would help both individuals and organizations reduce their cyber threat exposure.

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As cyber risks intensified, the scope of Cybersecurity Awareness Month simultaneously expanded its scope, attracting participants worldwide, including private enterprises, public corporations, educational institutions, and family-owned businesses. The program's overarching goal has likewise broadened, now aiming to create a more resilient global community by raising awareness about the importance of proactive cyber risk management and encouraging organizations to take ownership of their digital security. 

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As of 2023, CISA and NCA cemented "Secure Our World" as the theme for all subsequent Cybersecurity Awareness Months, underscoring the necessity for companies to take appropriate measures to weave cyber risk management practices into the fabric of their daily operations and calling on corporate leaders to emphasize every employee's role in securing data.

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CISA’s 2024 Cybersecurity Awareness Month Recommendations

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While providing a broad piece of advice such as "Secure Our World" can encourage organizational leaders to think about how cybersecurity can help create a more resilient marketplace, CISA also offers its top four tips on how to do so practically. These tips should not merely be thought of as best practices but rather as non-negotiable policies that every chief information security officer (CISO) should implement right away. 

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Recognize and Report Phishing

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Phishing remains one of the most widely used tactics by malicious cyber actors, as it has proven to be extremely effective. For instance, in 2023, MGM Resorts International suffered a $100 million loss due to a successful phishing scam. That same year, it was reported that over nine in ten (94%) of cybersecurity leaders had to deal with one of their employees falling victim to such an attack.

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CISOs must train employees to recognize phishing attempts and the various forms they can take. Scammers will embed dangerous links in the 'Unsubscribe' button of emails, impersonate high-level executives and, in the case of MGM, even pretend to be an employee over the phone. Plus, as soon as cyber professionals identify one tactic, these attackers find new ones to exploit. Constantly reminding everyone in the organization of the likelihood of a phishing attempt can reduce the probability of a successful breach and protect sensitive data.

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Use Strong Passwords

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Weak passwords are often the first vulnerability malicious actors will seek to exploit to infiltrate a system, as they require minimal effort to decode. The infamous SolarWinds supply chain attack, for instance, was the result of an intern who had set their password as "solarwinds123." This mistake, among others, is why so many organizations and cloud service providers insist that passwords be a minimum of 8 characters, cannot involve any names, and contain numbers and special characters.

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Cybersecurity executives should enforce strict password policies and strongly encourage the use of password managers and random password generators. Policies must also ensure that passwords are updated, at minimum, on a quarterly basis. Individuals, too, should heed this advice in their personal lives. Even a small change to a password can make the largest difference and significantly reduce the likelihood of successful infiltration. 

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Turn on Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

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Multi-factor authentication (MFA) layers an additional verification method on top of a username and password to confirm a person's identity. Nowadays, with it being relatively easy for cyber attackers to access compromised credentials, this second (and sometimes third) identification method makes it all the harder for unauthorized actors to gain system access. 

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Types of MFA include a phone call code, text message code, or random number generator, all of which create a string of numbers that must be entered before expiring. 

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Update Software

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A software update is a new version of an application or program that typically includes security patches and performance upgrades based on the latest threat environment intelligence. As such, leaving software and operating systems outdated exposes an organization to vulnerabilities that malicious actors have already been known to exploit. Enforcing software update policies is a simple step that can significantly reduce the risk of breach. 

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That said, it’s also crucial to weigh the benefits and costs of any automatic update policy, as evidenced in the CrowdStrike business outage catastrophe. While automatic software updates can streamline operations, there is still the potential of a glitch - which cyber risk managers should always keep in mind. 

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The Role of Cyber Risk Quantification in Securing the World

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The valuable tips that CISA promotes during Cybersecurity Awareness Month can significantly reduce an organization's cyber risk. However, increasing phishing vigilance, enforcing strong passwords, implementing MFA, and regularly updating software are far from the only measures businesses must take to minimize their exposure to operational damages and achieve a state of cyber resilience.

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CISOs must likewise integrate cyber risk management into high-level decision-making processes, which, considering cyber's technicalities and complexities, has often proved challenging. Nevertheless, research has demonstrated that when cybersecurity is successfully elevated into the C-suite and boardroom, organizations suffer significantly less financial loss in the wake of an event.

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To bridge the communication that often prevents cyber matters from being implemented into these broader business strategies, cybersecurity leaders can leverage cyber risk quantification (CRQ), an on-demand solution that translates abstract cyber terms into ones that resonate with executives across the organization. By transforming technical ideas into a tangible business language, CRQ ensures cyber risk is thoroughly considered, helping stakeholders safeguard the business and, ultimately, the wider marketplace.

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Proper Prioritization of Cybersecurity Investments

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On-demand CRQ solutions, like the one offered by Kovrr, help organizations prioritize cybersecurity investments according to the potential monetary impact of various cyber threat scenarios. For instance, a CRQ may illuminate that, within a given year, there is a 20% probability that a business may lose $20 million due to a cyber interruption. At the same time, their likelihood of losing this much due to another event, such as a ransomware attack or third-party outage, is much lower. 

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In that case, cyber risk managers can allocate a greater portion of their budget to mitigating an interruption (and justify this decision to the board), investing in system redundancies or advanced threat detection solutions. This strategic focus ensures that organizations are protecting their otherwise most vulnerable assets. When defenses are bolstered based on data-driven findings, they more directly foster financial efficiency, which, in the end, contributes to a more resilient, trustworthy market. 

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Adhering to Compliance and Reporting Regulations

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As regulatory and reporting frameworks, such as the EU's NIS 2 and DORA and the US SEC's 2023 cybersecurity rulings, become more stringent, CRQ can help organizations achieve and maintain compliance. Many of these new directives, for instance, require that businesses report 'material' or 'significant' cyber events. However, these terms' definitions are often ambiguous, leaving stakeholders confused as to when they need to disclose a specific attack.

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With cyber risk quantification, organizations can determine those loss benchmarks, such as the percentage of annual revenue lost or the amount of data records compromised, that constitute a materially or significantly impactful event. Then, using these calculated thresholds, business leaders can demonstrate compliance, helping them avoid crippling fines and reputational damage and, similarly, maintain the trust of both regulators and shareholders.

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Read Determining Cyber Materiality in a Post-SEC Cyber Rule World to learn more about how CRQ assists with materiality reporting and compliance.

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Managing Third-Party Service Provider and Supply Chain Risk

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In the globalized economy, where organizations across industries and revenue bands are increasingly connected through their third-party service providers, a cyber attack on any one supplier can have cascading effects across the entire marketplace. On-demand cyber risk quantification plays a crucial role in mitigating these risks by offering businesses a comprehensive understanding of the potential vulnerabilities in their supply chain, both according to vendor and tool. 

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Furthermore, CRQ platforms highlight the potential likelihood of various supply chain cyber incidents occurring, allowing companies to mitigate these exposure levels proactively, whether it's via security control upgrades, implementing tightened data-sharing standards, or diversifying their vendor base. Such measures reduce the reliance of many businesses on a single third party, fostering greater resilience across the supply chain and ensuring that, should a widely used third-party service suffer from an event, the rest of the market can continue to operate. 

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Cyber-Aware Businesses Enhance Market Stability

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Cybersecurity Awareness Month advocates that individuals and businesses alike must invest time and resources into securing the digital world. The initiative emphasizes that everyone has a role to play in cybersecurity, which can be bolstered by staying updated on the latest risk trends, ensuring strong passwords, and implementing MFA. However, for organizations to truly contribute to a resilient economic and social landscape, they need to go beyond these basic measures. 

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Using this month as an opportunity to embrace CRQ, organizations can start making more informed, data-driven decisions that align with high-level strategies and broader sustainability efforts. By quantifying cyber risk, CISOs can ensure that all the relevant factors are taken into account when planning for the future. This proactive approach not only fortifies the individual organization's resilience but also strengthens the collective security of the interconnected digital world, laying the groundwork for sustained trust and long-term stability.

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To learn more about how Kovrr’s CRQ simultaneously enhances organizational cyber resilience and supports broader global stability, schedule a free demo or contact one of our cybersecurity experts today. 

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