What is a Cyber Security Posture?
Cyber security posture is defined as the total cyber security strength of any organization. The posture reflects the security of an estate, IT network or a system. The underlying basis of cyber security is how an organization manages their policies, controls and procedures.
Each of these elements can be handled separately, the collective approach to dealing with them is called cyber security posture. The posture comprises the state of practices, processes, and human behaviour. In addition, it outlines the IT infrastructure conditions as well. Managing cyber security for organizations, entities or individuals should be made based on the collective cyber security posture.
What Does a Cyber Security Posture Help With?
Cyber security enables or helps you to practice the following:
- Take control and examine third-party services to evaluate the risk factors associated with them.
- Be aware of the present risks, and evaluate which risks you would prefer to tackle, and those that you would like to transfer.
- Take a practical approach to determine the possibility of a breach.
- Compare the cyber security posture with other organizations that will give you a greater perspective.
- Know your investments, risks, and actions to get a complete picture of the overall scenario.
Key Risks Identified
1. Incorrect access control
The services that are offered by IoT devices are accessible only and only by the owner. Else, it should be accessible by someone trustworthy. But, this is often compromised by the security system of a device. These devices usually allow access to the local networks. And thus, no authorization or authentication is next for such devices. Similarly, other devices that are connected to the network also become trusted devices.
2. Outdated Software
Software are regularly getting upgraded now and then. So, when there are any vulnerabilities discovered in devices, it needs to update the version to protect against the vulnerability. This simply means that IoT devices must have the latest software without any unknown vulnerabilities.
3. Application Vulnerabilities
It is first necessary to acknowledge that there are vulnerabilities in the software. This is the first step in securing IoT devices. Bugs in the software may cause to trigger functionality that was not intended by developers. At the same time, when developing any software, it is bound to have some software bugs. You cannot completely avoid vulnerabilities or bugs in your software applications. But, there are ways to reduce these vulnerabilities.
1. Insufficient Privacy Protection
All devices store crucial important information. The devices that are connected to a wireless network have the password of that network. This is why IoT devices and services should manage sensitive information with care. Also, they should be used with the consent of the end-user.
Cyber security posture is of utmost importance since it is related to cyber security risks. In simple words, if this improves, your cyber security risks gets reduced automatically.
