The CISO’s Guide to Achieving “Cybergility”
By Guilad Regev
Vice President of Customer Success
What you will learn:
- The concept of “cybergility” and why it’s important to your business continuity.
- How a comprehensive Cyber Defense Plan (CDP) integrates your security efforts and improves response times, and saves money.
- Fragmented CDPs with disconnected data can harm your business in the event of a crisis.
- How interconnected data supports accurate threat assessment, efficient resource allocation, and faster recovery.
Why CISOs Need Cybergility
When a new cyber threat emerges and begins spreading rapidly, how prepared is your cyber defense team to quickly adapt and mount an effective response? This isn’t just a theoretical question, of course. In recent years, businesses have faced numerous significant threats that forced nearly every organization to quickly reassess and pivot their cyber defense strategies. SolarWinds, Heartbleed, WannaCry, Lockbit, MOVEit, and more have had a profound impact on organizations of all sizes, in all industries, worldwide. These attacks demonstrated the vulnerabilities in even the most secure systems and led to widespread disruptions, loss of business reputation, and even lawsuits against the company that was attacked..
What differentiates how one company or another survives a cyber attack isn’t just their ability to defend against the threat. It’s also their capacity to quickly realign priorities, readjust their Cyber Defense Plan, and reallocate resources to confront the new challenge. Organizations that are less prepared, take weeks longer to get back on track and suffer ripple effects such as budget shortfalls and a lack of sufficient manpower to accomplish other tasks.
Better prepared organizations are able to manage threats, avoid extended recovery times and resource shortages experienced by less prepared organizations.
It’s a type of preparation we call “Cybergility.”
Cyber Protection Vs. Cybergility
Cyber protection against threats such as ransomware, malware, or supply chain attacks typically involves implementing defensive measures like firewalls, antivirus software, and intrusion detection systems to prevent or mitigate specific cyber risks. It focuses on building strong defenses to shield an organization from known threats.
Cybergility, on the other hand, is about ensuring your organization can swiftly adapt and respond to cyber threats by dynamically managing your resources, budgets, and priorities. It’s about being prepared to pivot quickly and effectively, minimizing disruption and maintaining business continuity even in the face of unexpected attacks.
Readiness and quick adaptation are more crucial than merely having strong defenses because new cyber threats are emerging constantly, and no static defense can cover all potential vulnerabilities. Organizations that can swiftly adjust their strategies and resources in response to new threats are better equipped to minimize damage and maintain continuity.
A Unified Cyber Defense Plan – Your Key to Achieving Cybergility.
Your Cyber Defense Plan (CDP) is a comprehensive written strategy that integrates all your cybersecurity projects, mitigations, controls, risks, and threats with your assets and business processes. It ensures that all these elements are connected and aligned with your organization’s highest goals. Properly done, it creates a coordinated and effective defense against cyber threats, and helps you react and adapt to unplanned changes.
A Real World Example – The Equifax Data Breach
In 2017, Equifax faced a major data breach caused by a vulnerability that went unpatched. The breach, affecting 147 million individuals, was worsened by the company’s fragmented systems and delayed response. Equifax knew of the breach 6 months before they publicly disclosed it. The lack of a unified Cyber Defense Plan led to inconsistent actions, inaccurate impact assessments, and inefficient resource allocation, resulting in prolonged recovery and significant financial losses, including a major lawsuit..
As the Equifax example shows, interconnectedness of your CDP is crucial because it allows for a comprehensive understanding of how each component of the plan will impact the others. When pieces of your cybersecurity plan are siloed in separate spreadsheets or pieced together with disparate tools, it is almost impossible to see the full picture. This lack of visibility makes it very hard for CISOs to spot inefficiencies, vulnerabilities, and leads to a slower response. Without a unified CDP, organizations risk fragmented defenses, which can result in longer recovery times and increased exposure to ongoing or new attacks.
Unified Vs Fragmented Cyber Defense Plan – Side by Side Comparison
Disconnected CDP data leads to delayed responses, inconsistent actions, inaccurate impact assessments, inefficient resource allocation, prolonged recovery times, and communication breakdowns, all of which hinder an organization’s ability to effectively manage and mitigate a newly discovered threat.
A unified CDP on the other hand, creates a situation where a team is operating effectively to respond to a new crisis. They have decided beforehand what actions they can take, how to re-allocate budget and resources.
This chart shows the significant between a unified vs. a fragmented CDP:
| Category | Unified Cyber Defense Plan | Fragmented Cyber Defense Plan |
|---|---|---|
| Response Time | ✅ Rapid and timely response to threats due to consolidated data. | ❌ Delayed response as data must be gathered from multiple sources. |
| Consistency | ✅ Coordinated and consistent actions across teams. | ❌ Inconsistent actions with potential overlaps or gaps. |
| Impact Assessment | ✅ Accurate assessment of threat impact through a unified view of risks and assets. | ❌ Inaccurate impact assessments due to disconnected information. |
| Resource Allocation | ✅ Efficient allocation of resources and budgets based on a clear, integrated view. | ❌ Inefficient resource allocation with possible underfunding or over-resourcing. |
| Recovery Time | ✅ Faster recovery due to streamlined information and processes. | ❌ Prolonged recovery as teams piece together information from various sources. |
| Communication | ✅ Enhanced communication and coordination between departments. | ❌ Potential communication breakdowns and lack of coordination. |
| Decision-Making | ✅ Informed decision-making with comprehensive data insights. | ❌ Decision-making hampered by fragmented data and incomplete insights. |
| Visibility | ✅ Full visibility into interconnected risks and controls. | ❌ Limited visibility with separate, unconnected data points. |
| Adaptability | ✅ Quick adaptation to new threats through dynamic adjustments. | ❌ Slower adaptation due to manual data consolidation and updates. |
| Efficiency | ✅ Streamlined operations and reduced redundancy. | ❌ Increased redundancy and inefficiencies from managing multiple data sources. |
SAGE Cyber Helps CISOs Achieve Cybergility
SAGE Cyber assists in creating a comprehensive Cyber Defense Plan (CDP) by guiding you through a structured process. We start with a detailed Business Impact Analysis (BIA) that includes all your assets and business processes. Next, we assess risk levels and link these risks to your assets, then integrate these risks with your control framework, mitigations, and tasks. Finally, we incorporate findings from penetration tests and risk assessments. This integrated approach provides a clear understanding of how changes, such as reallocating priorities or adjusting budgets, will impact your overall security posture.
Discover how SAGE Cyber can help you create a comprehensive Cyber Defense Plan. Contact us today to learn more about our solutions and schedule a demo.
Key Takeaways:
- Cybergility is about more than just strong defenses – it requires the ability to swiftly adapt and manage resources in response to new threats.
- A well-integrated Cyber Defense Plan enhances coordination, improves response times, and ensures accurate impact assessments, all crucial for effective cybersecurity risk management.
- Disconnected data and systems can lead to delayed responses, inconsistent actions, and prolonged recovery efforts.
- Creating a unified CDP with The SAGE Cyber Defense Planning and Optimization (CDPO) Platform will help you proactively manage risks, allocate resources effectively, and maintain business continuity during crises.