3 Questions Your Security Strategy Should Answer

Recently, many businesses have started evaluating their security strategies. The uptick in new and existing cybersecurity threats and the rapid transition to remote work and other digital solutions have created a breeding ground for cybercrime. To address these changes, here are questions your security strategy should answer.

What Are We Doing to Increase Our Security Culture’s Health?

It’s easy to get caught up in the reactive nature of cybersecurity, but this is only the tip of the security strategy iceberg. The health of your security strategy depends on the culture that surrounds your IT program.

Here are some questions that speak to intersecting areas your security culture should consider, thanks to the Enterprisers Project:

• Is your security team being asked to undertake new or significant efforts without the resources and tools they need? Do you or they know what those tools are?
• Are you helping your teams outside of the security or IT departments learn how to identify risk and threats? What kind of education or training are they getting?
• Are your security strategies leaning more toward “faster” or “more secure”? If your business is focused on speed and not security, current threats and future threats only become more dangerous.

Is There Friction Between Your Current Business Goals Versus Your Security Goals and Practices?

There will always be some friction between your business goals and your security strategy goals and practices. In a perfect world, security would not be needed. You would just be able to carry out your business operations without any hindrances from bad actors. But as the world becomes more remote and therefore digital, that friction can severely impact your business operations in more ways than just financial ones.

The key to decreasing friction is not to shy away from difficult conversations. As you move into the new year, business leaders should be identifying friction points and adjusting their team and company goals to incorporate safer and more effective cybersecurity procedures and practices.

One great example of friction caused by cybersecurity is the need for increased safety practices in relation to employee and client logins and online accounts. No business leader wants their employees or customers to have a longer process for gaining access to the data they need. So the business goal may be faster or more efficient processes on all fronts, but cybersecurity best practices directly contradict this idea.

Finding a good, and safe, compromise can help you reach or reevaluate those business goals without compromising the integrity of your company systems or overburdening your IT staff.

Are Your Data Metrics Really Working for You?

“This is the way we’ve always done things” is not a mindset that works well in IT programs. Your OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) – and how you approach and evaluate them – can help you achieve better results as a business.

Another great article from The Enterprisers Project takes you through 6 counterintuitive tips to use OKRs and KPIs to help solve problems.

Our favorite tip is “Treat OKRs and KPIs like meditation – a daily practice.” Often, leaders pigeonhole results into a basket that reads “we need quarterly or annual data before we can really see any trends or affect positive change in our programs.” That’s not the case at all.

By making time each day to look at your metrics, you can ground yourself and hone your team’s focus and orient them to work on things that matter. The one caveat here? To create momentum with these metrics, you have to make sure you’ve developed strong OKRs and KPIs to work from and measures against.

Security Strategy Questions – Answered

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Empowering people is what good IT is all about. IT should “just work”; it should be a force for good and not evil, and, when all is working well, you should barely notice it’s there. Learn more about our IT services, or give us a call today at 209-244-7120.