Cybersecurity Resolutions for 2024

We’re well into the new year, but let’s face it: it’s never too late to start improving.

Today, we’re bringing you some cybersecurity resolutions for 2024, to improve your cybersecurity stance. You don’t have to apply them all, but they’re all worth a look.

1. Start Reading Security Guidances

Learning from others is one of the best ways to dive headfirst into cybersecurity. Bodies like the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Center for Internet Security (CIS) regularly publish new best practices and security guidance documents. These frameworks cover specific vulnerabilities as well as more general strategies. In other words, studying them is a great way to get your bearings. Here are a few examples to get you started:

2. Implement Comprehensive Cybersecurity Training

You may already conduct cybersecurity training, but are you doing enough? Effective professional education should address different threats and valid responses but also how different facets of an organization relate to cybersecurity.

Remember that cyber safety training isn’t just for your “IT people.” Anyone in your organization can inadvertently contribute to a breach. It’s imperative that everyone who has access to your networks — including IoT devices and non-critical systems — understands their unique role in stopping breaches. They should also know what steps to take when they suspect an incident has occurred and how to use security tools properly.

3. Reassess Your BYOD Policy

Bring your own device (BYOD) policies were necessary long before the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the modern workforce. But if you think you can simply skate by with what’s worked thus far, think again.

Connected devices aren’t just proliferating in number. They’re also gaining new functionalities and connectivity modes. In a world where hybrid work is the norm and more hardware than ever is online, you should periodically update your BYOD policies. Consider:

Are there certain networks that should never allow outside devices to connect?
What measures can I use to control how people connect to sensitive systems for hybrid work?
When people bring devices like wearables to work, how do I isolate them from secure networks?

4. Fund Stakeholder Certifications

Pay for your team members to get certified in cybersecurity. This does way more than just make their future career paths a bit cushier. Rigorous certifications are grounded in cybersecurity best practices and standards. By subsidizing accredited training, you’ll build a more threat-ready workforce.

Having certified stakeholders on your side is also a smart marketing move. Just look at it from a client’s perspective. Would you want to work with a company that’s certified for its adherence to security standards or blindly trust it to keep your assets safe? Boosting your talent pool with industry-approved credentials makes you far more competitive.

5. Learn Where Your Flaws Lie With an Audit…Then Keep Doing It

Regular auditing helps expose your vulnerabilities in detail. Audits examine your cybersecurity stance from procedural and policy perspectives. They enumerate and explain deficiencies based on your practices, which you can work on right away.

For audits to work, they must be a force of habit. This helps you keep up with the evolving nature of threats, which mutate at lightning speed. Continuous auditing also ensures you won’t fall behind evolving regulations — or fall prey to recently uncovered problems with your IT vendors.

6. Start Vulnerability Scanning — and Not Just on Individual Machines

Most enterprises use some form of cybersecurity tool. But they make a critical mistake by limiting their virus and malware scans to individual computers.

It’s sort of like asking a doctor to look at a potentially cancerous tumor but ignoring whether it might have metastasized. You need to scan for whole-network health, and this means network- and OS-level scanning.

7. Check up on Your Vendors’ Audits and Credentials

Do your vendors satisfy the same lofty security standards you hold yourself to? While this is usually the case when you decide to sign a contract, you shouldn’t take it for granted.

Vendors can and do fail to maintain the cybersecurity quality standards they ought to meet. A quick look at some of IT industry newsletters will reveal countless hacks that came down to third-party deficiencies. Include your vendors in your audits or request their audit data regularly to shore up your defenses.

8. Set up Network Monitoring

Network monitoring is one of the easiest ways to establish your cybersecurity proficiency with minimal investment. Monitoring tools let you watch what’s happening in real-time to stay threat-aware. They help you establish a firm footing in evolving scenarios like hacks and make smarter decisions to limit incidents. Best of all, they do everything in the background so you don’t have to.

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