The band The Kinks once famously sang the words, “Paranoia, the destroyer.” In these very divisive times, lies and fear have begun running rampant to the point where in the technical community we start believing that hackers and cyber stalkers wait around every corner of the internet.
And while it’s true that cyberattacks are occurring with greater frequency every day, that doesn’t mean that everything you read or hear is true. The adage that you, “saw it on TV or online, so it must be true” isn’t always the case.
In industries where things are constantly in flux, myths inevitably arise. The cybersecurity industry is no exception. Recently, the team at Be Structured, a Los Angeles-based IT services company, encountered certain misunderstandings regarding IT network support security with increasing frequency.
So, let’s debunk some of the more prevalent cybersecurity myths to help refine your security strategies. After all, there’s plenty enough to worry about when running your business and trying to maintain a strong network structured system without having to worry about problems that don’t exist.
Myth 1: Industry Compliance Equals Security
For businesses operating in industries with specific network compliance requirements, ensuring you’re staying compliant is a critical part of protecting clients, employees, and your bottom line.
However, some organizations believe that by meeting industry compliance requirements, they’re doing everything they need to be doing to defend network data security.
The Reality
While satisfying compliance requirements can help establish a rudimentary data security platform, it’s rarely enough. That’s because compliance audits are generally not rigorous enough to uncover deeper network vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit.
At the same time, merely focusing on compliance can leave your network vulnerable to evolving security threats that compliance requirements haven’t yet addressed.
Myth 2: Consolidating Data Increases Security and Efficiency
As organizations generate and process increasing amounts of data, they often believe that storing and managing that data in one location — either virtual or physical — maximizes security while making it easier to manage.
“Just like having a double authentication system to help prevent cyberattacks, it’s important to maintain redundancy with your network systems and data,” explains Chad Lauterbach, the CEO of Be Structured, an outsourced IT support company in Los Angeles, California. “It may cost a couple more bucks to have the redundancy and stored data across multiple servers both on and offsite, but in the long run it will save your business money if attacked and one platform gets shut down.”
Think of redundancy as an insurance plan. Sure, it costs money today, but think about the losses if your network is structured in a way that’s backed up. The loss of revenues as your IT services department scrambles to recover would cost far more than the ongoing redundant insurance policy.
The Reality
Storing sensitive data on one centralized platform does little to advance security. At the same time, consolidating data can slow your team down since you still need to find ways to turn that data into valuable insights.
That means storing data where it’s most valuable and where it’s actually being used is ultimately in your organization’s best interest, so long as you’re taking the proper measures to secure each platform.
Myth 3: Manual Penetration Tests Are No Longer Necessary
As automation becomes increasingly prevalent, some organizations believe that manual penetration testing is no longer necessary. In fact, there’s an ongoing debate whether manual versus automated testing makes any sense at all
The Reality
While automation is excellent for vulnerability assessments that need to target specific applications a variety of times to be most effective, it only gets you so far. That’s because automated security testing and vulnerability scans generally only reveal known security vulnerabilities.
As a result, uncovering undiscovered security threats often requires a human perspective to keep your network protected at every level. In short, if you’re looking to maximize the effectiveness of your cybersecurity platform, you need to achieve a balance between more frequent vulnerability scans and ongoing penetration testing.
In a case like this, it often makes sense to hire an outsourced managed IT services provider who is paid to monitor your network 24/7, 365 days of the year to assure that all threats are recognized and defended. Often, an internal IT support team will miss the finer details of what could be a debilitating attack.
Myth 4: More Is Always Better
With the increasing number of cybersecurity services and products on the market today, some organizations believe that throwing more money at threats provides the maximum level of security.
Not true.
More can be less. And when it comes to in-house staffing a business owner should ask, “Does having more bodies give me greater peace of mind?” Not always as too many IT chefs in the kitchen can truly ruin the network soup. Often, they will give the false impression of a threat just to secure job security.
With an outsource managed service provider, you can almost always ensure that your best interests are in hand. The IT support company is paid to protect you without false alarms.
The Reality
Trying to implement and deploy all of the cybersecurity strategies and platforms can actually end up stretching your cybersecurity team and partner too thin. Your team can’t be experts in every aspect of the latest platforms and technology.
Instead, focus on responding to your industry-specific threats and cultivating a team that’s great at defending against those threats, instead of providing sub-par defense against every potential danger out there.
Myth 5: You Should Be Handling Everything Internally
As organizations grow, they often reach a point where they think they need to be handling all of their cybersecurity needs internally in order to maximize efficiency.
The Reality
For organizations focused on growth, it doesn’t take long to realize that your internal team lacks the resources to continually respond to ever-changing security threats in real-time.
Trying to manage every aspect of your cybersecurity platform can quickly leave you vulnerable to developing threats while simultaneously making it more difficult for your team to focus on maintaining day-to-day operations. Outsourced managed service providers (MSPs) specialize in providing on-demand services to fill any gaps in your internal resources, so your IT never slows growth.
If your organization has fallen for any of these myths, consider consulting with an outsourced IT support company like Be Structured in Los Angeles.
They can help remedy any issues and get your cybersecurity platform back on track and stable every day. You always want to be protected against the cyberattacks that are – and aren’t real. But knowing the difference will save your business the headaches of downtime and paranoia.
