The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications have published the National Cyber Security Strategy and Cyber Security Baseline Standards which reflect the growing concerns over cyber security in businesses across the world.
The internet was not created as a secure environment. Its purpose was to enable the free flowing of information. Having come on leaps and bounds since its inception, both in positive and negative ways, cyber security and security strategies need to be implemented in order to keep users safe. From a business perspective, the rise in SaaS and web-based applications only emphasises the need for strict cyber security protocols to be in place to protect both users and corporate data. However, without a baseline or set of standards, what constitutes 'good' cyber security has been subjective.
The publication of cyber security documentation is a step closer to regulating security standards across all businesses and public sector bodies in the country. Following the HSE cyberattack that took place earlier in 2021, security has been at the forefront of digital transformation driving factors and will continue to be as strategies are formed over the coming years.
What do the reports say?
At a high level, the reports outline the need for baseline guidelines for cyber security going into detail about the role internet usage plays in our lives from a business and societal standpoint. The reports touch on the increase of cyber attacks that we have seen throughout the pandemic due to the influx of users working from home, and the diminished security parameters that exposes.
When the working from home mandate came in, security came second priority to access in order to keep businesses functioning and users able to work. As we approach our third year of WFH, organisations are accelerating 5 year security roadmaps and implementing them from now.
Having a set of cyber security guidelines provides a regulatory commitment from businesses to ensure they are enforcing a minimum security requirement at least. The reports set out standards that are in line with international equivalents.
The objectives of the Strategy are to:
continue to improve the ability of the State to respond to and manage cyber security incidents, including those with a national security component
identify and protect critical national infrastructure by increasing its resilience to cyber-attack and by ensuring that operators of essential services have appropriate incident response plans in place to reduce and manage any disruption to services
improve the resilience and security of public sector IT systems to better protect services that our people rely upon, and their data
invest in educational initiatives to prepare the workforce for advanced IT and cybersecurity careers
raise awareness of the responsibilities of businesses around securing their networks, devices and information and to drive research and development in cyber security in Ireland, including by facilitating investment in new technology
continue to engage with international partners and international organisations to ensure that cyber space remains open, secure, unitary and free and able to facilitate economic and social development
increase the general level of skills and awareness among private individuals around basic cyber hygiene practices and to support them in this by means of information and training
In light of these national cyber security recommendations, Edge7 Networks are offering free cyber security strategy consultations. Our security team will discuss your current security measures, your business goals for now and the future, and create a roadmap for you that ensures all aspects of your organisation are protected. We work with the industry's leading security vendors, and can design a solution to suit your needs from web filtering to monitoring and analytics that can be wrapped in a security managed service delivered by our expert SOC team.
Book a time that suits you here to get started.
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