Is cyber resilience just another term for cybersecurity? This common misconception highlights the confusion in the information security realm.
Cyber resilience, a concept that emerged in the early 2000s, goes beyond traditional cybersecurity by focusing on a system’s ability to endure and recover from cyber incidents1. As our global reliance on technology grows and cyber incidents spike, the importance of cyber resilience becomes evident. It is now included in frameworks from highly respected organizations like the International Organization for Standardization and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.2
Despite its importance, there are many misconceptions about cyber resilience that can have severe financial and operational consequences for organizations.
Here are some of the most common misconceptions that, if not addressed, lead companies to overlook critical vulnerabilities and ignore the impacts of cyber incidents on their overall business continuity:
Just because your cybersecurity defenses are in order doesn’t mean your firm is cyber resilient — the distinction between cybersecurity and cyber resilience is often poorly understood. Cybersecurity refers to your firm’s controls against breaches and attacks. These preventative measures include anti-virus software, multi-factor authentication, encryption, and firewalls. It can also include employee education against phishing or cybersecurity training initiatives.
On the other hand, cyber resilience is what your organization does after a cyber incident has already occurred. It includes technical and organizational factors, like a comprehensive incident response plan, robust disaster recovery, and business continuity planning.
“Cyber resilience is the ability to anticipate, withstand, recover from, and adapt to adverse conditions and compromises on systems that use or are enabled by cyber resources.” — Canadian Centre for Cyber Security3
In the past, firms have concentrated on developing a strong cybersecurity posture. But as criminal attacks intensify, increase in sophistication, and become easier to carry out – organizations are increasingly confronted with the reality of needing to plan for when an incident happens4.
Implementing proactive measures to restore and recover critical functions offers numerous tangible benefits. A quick, coordinated response when a cyber incident occurs reduces downtime from operations and ensuing financial losses while also improving public trust5.
Focusing solely on defensive cybersecurity measures can leave major gaps in recovery and continuity planning. But by integrating cyber resilience into your strategy, you create a comprehensive approach that prepares your firm for prevention and recovery.
Understandably, a board of directors often prioritizes issues directly tied to an organization’s success and viability. However, overlooking cyber resilience can be a costly mistake. Poor cyber resiliency can lead to massive financial consequences, including severe financial penalties, total loss of critical data, and reputational damage, which can have long-lasting impacts that are difficult to quantify.
A survey of senior security and risk professionals revealed a significant priority gap. While 69% of respondents agreed that knowing their workforce can adapt, respond, and recover from cybersecurity incidents is crucial for their organization’s success, only 60% said cybersecurity is a major priority for their board of directors. Even more concerning, only 56% indicated it is a major priority for senior leadership, including roles such as the CEO, CFO, and COO.6
Here are a few principles that can help you gain full support from leadership:
Framing cyber resilience as crucial to your organization’s financial success will help you secure board and senior leadership support.
It’s wishful thinking to assume that if a cyber incident occurs once, it’s unlikely to happen again. One study of global ransomware attacks found that around 80% of businesses that paid a ransom experienced a second attack, with a significant portion being from the same group of attackers 7.
If vulnerabilities aren’t properly addressed after an attack, severe financial losses can be compounded by another incident. A crucial component of cyber resiliency is containment and recovery. The forensic analysis, containment, eradication, and recovery stages are essential for keeping your firm operational during and after an attack — while minimizing unnecessary losses. It also protects you from future attacks.
Ransomware attackers often use phishing to gain access. Phishing involves tricking individuals into providing sensitive information like usernames or passwords, masquerading as a legitimate or trustworthy entity 8. Fraudulent emails, text messages, phone calls, or websites are used to steal data, distribute malware, and facilitate other cybercrimes 9. Bad actors cast a wide, indiscriminate net — making it likely that a firm will receive multiple phishing attempts over time.
Cybercriminals are relentless and opportunistic, exploiting any vulnerability they find and attacking repeatedly if given the chance. This means firms must be vigilant, thorough in recovery, and always prepared to respond swiftly to new threats.
Small and medium-sized businesses might mistakenly think they are too insignificant to be a target for a cyber attack. In reality, these firms are often more vulnerable due to weaker security measures stemming from limited resources compared to larger enterprises, making them more cost-effective and simpler targets for criminals.10 A recent Europol report highlights that ransomware groups increasingly target these businesses due to their lower cyber defenses.11
One study that analyzed millions of emails across numerous companies found that an average employee at a small business with fewer than 100 employees will experience 350% more social engineering attacks than an employee of a larger enterprise 12. Another study from 2022 found that nearly half of Canadian small businesses (45%) experienced a cyberattack in the preceding year. 13
Criminals conducting phishing attacks do not have detailed knowledge of a company’s financials. Instead, they cast a wide net, targeting multiple organizations indiscriminately, with the primary purpose of most phishing emails being to deliver ransomware or other malicious software. 14
Adding to the challenge, the professionalization of cybercrime has made it easier for less technically skilled criminals to engage in it. These perpetrators can conveniently purchase phishing kits or ransomware-as-a-service from the dark web to facilitate attacks, which can be reused during a single campaign. 15
As cybercriminals have become more sophisticated and improved their tactics to target small and medium-sized businesses at scale — businesses of all sizes must stay vigilant against cyber attacks. 16
Cyber resilience involves strategies and practices that can be implemented incrementally to improve your cyber resilience posture. While centering on continuous improvement and adaptability, cyber resilience can start with a risk assessment to reveal key areas of concern and a proper cost-benefit analysis to prioritize actions accordingly.
A phased approach to cyber resilience includes prioritizing critical actions like incident response plans and immutable regular data backups, which can improve your security stance in the event of a cyber incident. Focusing on the most critical processes and regularly testing your response strategies ensures that your approach is effective and adaptable to new threats.
Partnering with experts is crucial for identifying critical vulnerabilities, selecting suitable technologies, and building a roadmap to better cyber resilience — ultimately protecting your organization.
Rather than viewing cyber resilience as a massive, one-time project, it should be seen as a series of strategic, manageable steps that build on each other.
These prevailing misconceptions about cyber resilience can lead to grave financial and operational consequences, with business disruptions caused by a cyber incident being extremely costly and damaging to your reputation. As our reliance on technology increases, understanding the full scope of cyber resilience — preparing for, responding to, and recovering from cyber incidents — is more crucial than ever.
Business disruptions caused by cyber incidents are costly and damaging to your reputation. Take the first step towards strengthening your cyber resilience. Contact us today and safeguard your business with a no risk cyber resilience review.
1 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10207-023-00811-x
2 https://www.iso.org/contents/news/2023/02/how-to-build-cyber-resilience.html https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/cyber_resiliency
3 https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/transitioning-cyber-resilience-approach-itsap10190
4 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-premier-cyberattacks-sophisticated-1.7198501 https://globalnews.ca/news/10336867/canadian-cyber-attacks-rise/
5 https://www.cyber.gc.ca/en/guidance/transitioning-cyber-resilience-approach-itsap10190#cyber
7 https://www.cybereason.com/ransomware-the-true-cost-to-business-2024
8 https://antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/scams-fraudes/phishing-service-hameconnage-eng.htm
15 https://securityintelligence.com/x-force/phishing-kit-trends-top-10-spoofed-brands-2023/