News of the most recent high profile cyber breach, that the concession stands in Madison Square Garden were compromised, has just been released.
But it’s not the fact that they were compromised that’s concerning but that the breach was in place for over a year before they even knew about it. This is a trend we are seeing more often this year.
It started me thinking about how organizations look at cyber security – it’s almost always in a negative way. The fear of the hack, the stigma associated, how will my business recover and most importantly my customer’s information will be widely available on the internet.
Behind all this fear and distress there is a genuine opportunity for businesses to move beyond this “roll the dice” conundrum.
Business owners, CEO’s, CIO’s should be considering how they can be the ‘first in class’ with their cyber security and to make that a selling point, a unique selling proposition, a reason why you should trust them and do business with them.
A business who views Cyber Security as the “Gold Standard” will probably have superior customer service, better products and respect your business a lot more. A business that can demonstrate and validate that their systems are impenetrable, could use this standard/benchmark to win contracts, a real way for their business to differentiate themselves from the competition.
As we enter the most intensive shopping periods of the year, either online or in store the pressure among traders and the anxiety among customers will increase. Almost every time I use my card, I think about whether the retailer has sufficient cyber security measures in place and do they have adequately trained and certified cyber technicians to protect my data?
As I have explained in previous posts, this is as much a people issue as it is technology, so are they promoting good cyber citizenship among their employees?
To achieve this “Gold Standard” is not impossible, but consider the peace of mind and the opportunity for the businesses that implemented and achieved that state of nirvana. They would have, the perfect infrastructure, all technicians trained and certified, proper risk management and governance in place, all staff would be aware of their cyber responsibilities and be good cyber citizens and have superior processes in place when a breach is suspected.
We need to come to terms with the reality of our situation, embrace the perspective the situation provides and re-frame it in our mind.
Out of adversity and challenges, opportunities are abound for those with the right cyber security mindset.
Carpe Diem !
John McGlinchey
John McGlinchey is the Senior Vice President of Global Business Development & Products for CompTIA