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5 Tips to Ensure the CIA Security Triad for Your Business

5 Tips to Ensure the CIA Security Triad for Your Business

September 3rd, 2020

Running a business in the digital playing field has brought numerous benefits for companies worldwide. You’re now able to establish a global presence from a single location, whereas adapting to the pandemic and the need for social distancing is much easier when you’ve enabled your business to operate remotely. Add to that, modern customers are extremely tech-savvy and eager to interact with brands online. However, operating in the digital realm has its own challenges, the main one being security.

To meet the needs of the modern customer, to keep your business data safe, and to collaborate in a secure environment, your business should implement the core principles of the well-known CIA security triad. CIA stands for confidentiality, integrity, and availability, and it encompasses the key pillars of what it means to build business security from the ground up. Here, we’ll share a few core ideas to help you implement the CIA triad in your own organization and provide your employees, your brand, and your customers with the latest security protection available.

Enforce access control

Much like a hierarchy exists to create a sense of order within your business, you also need layers of data access to make sure that the right people can access the right information. That same procedure also protects sensitive information from ever reaching malicious people, or those who aren’t authorized to handle the most sensitive data you store.

Set up a clear privacy requirements protocol to define which employees can access what data and what they are allowed to do with said data. Let your security software and monitoring teams do the rest by enforcing access control across every touchpoint.

Two-factor authentication to the rescue

Even if someone is capable of breaching one layer of your security protocols, chances are that they’ll hardly be able to avoid the second step. Two-factor authentication is a process applied in everyday life, as well. Whenever you use your debit or credit card and you need to enter your PIN number, you apply two-factor authentication: it’s not enough to possess the card, you also need to have the PIN.

Together with data encryption, this particular step in your security system allows you to ensure higher levels of confidentiality for your data and all your interactions.

Manage your traffic and network security

The main entryway for cyber threats for businesses is their internet network. Inbound traffic can be riddled with potential malware and social engineering schemes, while outbound traffic that’s not properly monitored or controlled can lead your employees to insecure websites and expose your organizations to malicious attacks. Protecting your business network and all associated devices with advanced network security solutions is a prerequisite for achieving the CIA triad in your organization.

The built-in monitoring software paired with hardware firewalls can enable your employees to stay secure online no matter if they’re communicating with one another on the cloud, or if they are interacting with customers. Ongoing monitoring, testing, and reporting in a single network protection solution is what’s necessary nowadays to ensure the integrity of your data, as well as your overall business security.

Data backup and recovery are vital

Accidents happen, and with a possible security breach on your hands, you need to be ready for every eventuality. That means that you also need to prepare yourself and your employees for a potential security incident, and you need to be able to protect the integrity of your data preventatively. For that, you should invest in a dedicated data backup and recovery plan to preserve your data’s integrity and overall security for the long haul.

Everything from communicating with your customers as soon as there’s a data breach, all the way to creating a step-by-step set of guidelines for your employees on their roles in the process, your recovery and backup plan needs to reflect your specific business requirements. Such a strategy also protects data availability as well as confidentiality, thus completing the triad with a single plan.

Keep your security software up to date

Some updates are automated, while others require your IT team to choose the necessary features and enable various functionalities for your devices. Without updated security software, and all other software you use to conduct your business, you risk jeopardizing the availability element of your triad. Without security software available on the premises and on every device in use, your teams can only do so much to keep your data safe and your interactions secure.

Employee education as your priority

With the right SaaS solutions, safe cloud environments for data storage and collaboration, and advanced access control practices, you also need to be mindful of who implements all of these security steps in your business. After all, employees are often the main source of risk, their behavior being the core factor in how impenetrable your protective measures truly are.

Their password management skills, their ability to recognize social engineering schemes, and their ongoing dedication to handling data safely will define your overall security. Not all employees are equally versed in the relevance of the CIA triad and the best ways to implement it. So, it’s up to you to educate and train your staff from the moment they join your business. Provide regular courses, testing, and training in the latest security measures, and your staff will likely become the strongest pillar of security for your business.

Security is a fluid notion, but one that requires your ongoing attention and creativity to prevent cyberattacks as well as internal threats and mishaps within your own ranks. By approaching security from the perspective of the CIA triad, you will be able to enable all three key factors of security and provide a safe business environment for all your employees as well as for handling any sensitive customer data. As times change, we, too, must rise to the security challenges that come with advanced technology and use it to our advantage to protect all our assets.