How Operations Protects Your Business

As part of our “security takes a village” focus, we are exploring how stakeholders other than a dedicated cybersecurity or IT team can help keep your organization secure. In this post, our Director of Operational Excellence, Jennifer Mitchell, offers a round-up of how Ops leaders (and their teams) can help secure your business.

As an operations leader (albeit one working for a cybersecurity company 😊), I’ve written on various security topics, from how Ops can help, and why Ops should help, to specific reasons Ops teams are well-suited to participating in the development and execution of your IR plan. So, given our focus on “Security Takes a Village” and new Cybersecurity regulations that require businesses to have an IR plan, and nominate a CISO, I thought it was a good time to write about just what the role of Operations is in securing your business. This is especially important in the SMB, where we often wear multiple hats. In this post I’ll cover the ways you can help secure your organization, both general and specific.

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Operational Risk

Addressing threats to your operation is a priority for Operations leaders – and should include cybersecurity threats. The risk of operational interruption, the presence of single points of failure, the cost of loss of IP / downtime / fines / ransom – if these risks “keep you up at night” then you need to be involved in mitigating them. Start by identifying whose responsibility cybersecurity is within the organization, and involve yourself in the conversation. Once there is awareness and alignment at the c-level, Ops can help by informing policies to improve your security. These can range from acceptable usage policies, to devices at work, to how third parties (and which of them) handle data.

Specific Activities

Once the organizational direction is set, and clearly defined (Read more...)