Solutions for today’s Cybersecurity transformation.
Transformation may be the most overused word in technology. When it comes to cybersecurity transformation, the intended outcome is to rapidly reduce cyber risk and utilize new digital technologies that support your strategic goals. However, investing in digitalization without shoring up cybersecurity practices is as misguided as building a car without a chassis.
Achieving that secure foundation keeps organizations with industrial control systems (ICS) and operational technology (OT)—manufacturers, integrators, energy producers, and other critical infrastructure providers—up at night. As the trend to integrate OT and IT continues in heavily regulated industries, vulnerabilities arise that must be hardened.
But there are a few false mindsets about cybersecurity transformation you need to set aside before you begin:
- Transformation is all about technology
- Transformation is hard
- Transformation takes too long
Enhancing security requires a transformation mindset.
When planning for transformation, we often focus on technology and expect the workplace culture to follow. But beneath the hype, the fluff, and the confusion, digital transformation involves some significant changes to business culture before, during, and after the transformation.
Real change requires an engaged workforce. Imagine establishing a Zero Trust posture with uncooperative users. Or instituting security protocols that nobody follows. In 2021, Colonial Pipeline was attacked by hackers. As a result, the company temporarily shut down its entire network—representing 45% of the fuel used along the east coast of the US. Millions were spent on ransomware and recovery, not to mention the weeks of downtime. All because of an unprotected password.
A culture of transformation is one in which people shape each project’s purpose, path, and outcome and can acquire the skills they’ll need for the mission. It engages users and makes them part of the mission. “In the center of it all is leadership and culture,” says Jim Swanson, CIO of Johnson & Johnson. “You could have all those things – the customer view, the products and services, data, and really cool technologies – but if leadership and culture aren’t at heart, it fails. Understanding what digital means to your company – whether you’re a financial, agricultural, pharmaceutical, or retail institution – is essential.”
Establishing a secure baseline is easier than you think.
BoozAllen hit the nail on the head when they said, “Today, organizations and security programs face a seemingly impossible task—they need to secure more environments and more technologies—while guarding against increasingly sophisticated and capable cyber threats. The list of forces driving this complex threat landscape is long and varied, ranging from increased enterprise-wide interconnectivity and IT/OT convergence to the proliferation of advanced cyber threats. Taken together, they present leaders with a tremendous challenge, and the impacts of recent breaches underscore the costs of falling behind.”
While the task may seem herculean, there are well-organized, long-proven roadmaps to identify and remediate vulnerabilities. In the federal government, STIG compliance and the practices outlined by the NIST Cybersecurity Risk Management Framework (RMF) keep our national secrets secure. A cybersecurity framework like NIST can help you adhere to best practices and compliance requirements for an enhanced network, IoT, and cloud security. At the framework’s core, NIST follows the basic pattern of identifying, protecting, detecting, responding, and recovering. It offers a well-managed guide for identifying cybersecurity risks and your organization’s assets that need protection.
In commercial enterprises, Center for Internet Security (CIS) benchmarks based on NIST RMF can help drive security through transformation, OT/IT convergence, and beyond. There are specialized guides for manufacturing and other critical organizations to help define and implement a cybersecurity program systematically and consistently.
So, the information and checklists are out there to make the transformation easier than you think. As a result, there is plenty of room for leaders to stop worrying about processes and past threats and focus on strategic planning and culture change. As Neil Rerup says, “True Cybersecurity is preparing for what’s next, not what was last.”
Securing your baseline can be established this afternoon.
Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But with automation, securing infrastructure and maintaining that security can happen quickly and with lower-level staff. A best practice in the cybersecurity industry is to automate and mechanize as much as you can. Things like patching and needs that hit you daily on a moment’s notice are great candidates for automation.
Another great candidate is scanning, remediating, and reporting vulnerabilities in accordance with STIG and CIS standards. Automating those tasks with proven software like SteelCloud’s ConfigOS can cut weeks from your hardening timeline, enabling you to shift resources to strategic planning for the future. Can you imagine getting a step ahead instead of struggling to keep it all the time? Automation simplifies the process and removes much of the consternation it causes.
Changing your mindset is just the solution to meet your cybersecurity needs.
Digital transformation integrates technology into all business aspects, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver customer value. It’s also a cultural change that requires organizations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment, and get comfortable with failure. Cybersecurity transformation follows suit, fundamentally changing your processes and approaches to security.
None of this can be done in a vacuum. You must establish a new cultural mindset, follow a solid plan for continual security and automate what you can to shift from being responsive to proactive. Named a Top 10 Cloud Security Solutions Provider by Enterprise Security Magazine, SteelCloud has been shaping the face of cybersecurity transformation and automation for more than 13 years. To see ConfigOS in action, watch this video. And if you have any questions or need guidance, be sure to contact us.
