Threats against critical infrastructure systems continue to increase, and organizations are constantly trying to stay ahead of the evolving threat landscape with comprehensive cybersecurity solutions – whether that’s on the information technology (IT) or operational technology (OT) side.
As the cybersecurity market continues to consolidate, it's important to do some prep work before you choose providers for your core cybersecurity systems. Taking a systematic approach will help you ensure that the products and services you choose are in alignment with your organization's cybersecurity and risk mitigation strategies when making budget decisions for the year ahead. Before exploring the key considerations, you need to make sure you have internal alignment on your cybersecurity goals and strategies.
Start with Alignment
There are several reasons it’s important to get internal alignment before you start selecting your core cybersecurity systems; let’s explore the three steps you can take to get there.
Step 1. Understand the Problem You're Trying to Solve
Begin by defining the cybersecurity challenges your organization faces, which vary based on your company size, industry, regulatory requirements, infrastructure, and environment. Getting alignment from the diverse stakeholders (such as senior management, IT staff, security staff, and business unit leaders) across your organization will help you to ensure that the systems you select are the right ones to meet the unique needs for your business.
Your process must include identifying critical business processes, recovery point objectives (RPOs), recovery time objectives (RTOs), and assessing the probability of various risks. This process will help you ensure that the systems you choose offer the integration and interoperability options you need in a comprehensive cybersecurity solution. Ultimately, this helps you get budget and resource approval as well as ensure that stakeholders are invested in making the changes needed to improve overall security.
Step 2. Adopt Existing Risk Frameworks
Risk frameworks provide you with a systematic approach to identifying and assessing cybersecurity risks, helping you identify all the potential risks to your organization. Many regulations require you to implement a risk-based approach to cybersecurity, so adopting a risk framework can help you demonstrate compliance with these regulations.
There are many established risk frameworks you can leverage, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Risk Management Framework, the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA 2014), the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and the Center for Internet Security (CIS) Controls. All these frameworks help you identify, prioritize, and quantify risks. By adopting a framework, you can assess your organization's willingness to take on risks using your selected risk frameworks.
Step 3. Evaluate Potential Solutions
Once you understand what you’re trying to accomplish and which frameworks you are using to assess risk, you need to assess each potential cybersecurity solution against several criteria:
- Verify that the published capabilities of the product or service match real-world performance
- Ensure that the product or service fits within your budget constraints
- Verify the stability and reliability of the vendor by conducting third-party risk assessments
- Consider ease of use, implementation, and overall usability
- Evaluate how well the product or service integrates with your existing tools and processes
Going through these three steps will help you gain internal alignment and help you begin to narrow down the potential cybersecurity systems to the ones that meet your specific needs and requirements. However, given how much the cybersecurity market has changed over the past few years, there are additional considerations you need to spend some time on.
Considerations for Selecting Core Cybersecurity Systems
A well-designed and implemented defense-in-depth cybersecurity system can help you protect your organization's data, systems, and people from a variety of attacks, including data breaches, malware infections, and denial-of-service attacks; all of which can result in significant financial losses, harm to your reputation, disruption to your business operations, and more. Cybersecurity systems are critical to protecting your organization from cyberthreats and therefore have a material impact on your bottom line. When choosing your solutions, here are eight considerations that should be top of mind:
1. Product Lifecycle
Understand the product's lifecycle, including key milestones, such as release dates, end-of-sale, end-of-support, and end-of-life. This knowledge is crucial for long-term planning. It doesn’t make sense to invest in a solution that has an expiration date — so find out if it has one.
2. Assess Integration of Services and Support
Ensure that any service you select can integrate seamlessly with your existing teams. They should serve as an extension your own team can rely on, backed by Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Experience Level Agreements (XLAs). You don’t want to rely on service providers that have no built-in accountability to be there to support you during an incident.
3. Guard Against Fear-Based Sales Tactics
Be cautious of companies that try to sell products solely based on fear, which is very common in the cybersecurity space. Be very skeptical when salespeople use high-pressure language to create a sense of urgency and dread. Do your own research on products and services to make your decision. Focus on solutions that provide a real return on investment and tangible improvements in security and risk reduction.
4. Know Your Business Parameters
Understanding your organization's operating parameters, such as RTOs and RPOs, is critical. You also need to consider your budget, the regulations you need to meet, likely growth of your company, and your IT infrastructure. This knowledge streamlines decision-making and allows you to eliminate vendors that don't meet your requirements now and in the future.
5. Balance Market Consolidation Risks
Consider the double-edged sword of market consolidation. Fewer vendors can simplify administration and reduce partner interactions, but they may also pose a higher risk if a major incident occurs. Consider vendors that have a good record of innovation, are financially stable, have a good reputation, and are open and interoperable, making it easier to switch if necessary. Your organization's risk tolerance plays a crucial role in this decision.
6. Scrutinize Licensing Models
Carefully review licensing models to ensure you're only paying for what you need. The licensing model can have a material impact on the flexibility, cost, and scalability of the solutions. Don't opt for bundled products unless they are cost-competitive and align with your broader goals.
7. Vendor Acquisition Patterns
Be aware of vendors aggressively acquiring startups. Such acquisitions can impact pricing and bundling, affecting your options. It can also result in product, support, and pricing changes, as well as unexpected integration challenges. In some cases, it may be unavoidable to go with larger players due to these acquisition patterns.
8. Partner Integration
Partner integration has the potential to improve your cybersecurity posture because it can give you access to more security solutions and expertise, potentially reducing costs and increasing efficiency by minimizing the number of solutions you need to purchase and manage. Weigh the value of partner integration, especially if your business relies on inter-organizational connections. Choosing products or services that align with industry standards can simplify these interactions.
Your Research Is Your Guide
As the cybersecurity market tightens, a well-thought-out investigation phase is essential for organizations before selecting your core cybersecurity systems. Ensuring internal alignment on cybersecurity goals and strategies is a critical part of this process. From there, make sure you take a systematic approach to evaluating potential providers to ensure that your final choices are aligned with your overarching cybersecurity, risk mitigation, and overall business objectives. This approach streamlines the selection process and positions your organization as you make decisions and finalize your budget for 2024. It will help you make data-driven cybersecurity investment decisions now and in the long term that will benefit your business as a whole.
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