Before any business can adopt an effective security strategy, you first have to understand your current information security position. At ATB, we are able to provide our clients with comprehensive evaluations of their existing security landscape to identify potential issues and provide detailed, actionable recommendations for mitigating risks, implementing industry best practices and ensuring regulatory and compliance requirements are met. Below is an interview with ATB’s IT security guru, John Jeleric, which should help answer some of your pressing questions on where to begin to make your business more secure.
Q: HOW DO BUSINESSES KNOW IF THEY ARE SECURE?
A: Security is a complicated subject and the reality is that there is no one-size-fits-all “packaged solution.” In order to have security measures that actually work for your specific business, it’s important to understand and evaluate your organization’s current processes as part of a complete risk assessment.
Q: WHAT EXACTLY IS INVOLVED IN A RISK ASSESSMENT?
A: A thorough risk assessment looks at the potential adverse impacts to your organization’s operations, assets and employees arising from the way your company utilizes IT systems – including how these information systems process, store and transmit data – as well as physical security parameters, user habits and training. Some of the questions we look at when performing a risk assessment are
- What is your organization’s single biggest security concern and are you properly allocating your resources to address that risk?
- How do your security protocols compare to industry standards and best practices?
- Have you performed ongoing security assessments in the past? And if so, what were the outcomes?
- Do you have an established process to address security breaches?
- Do you fully understand the impact that a breach would have on your ongoing business operations? Is there a business recovery plan in place?
- Are you fully compliant with all federal, state, local and industry requirements?
Q: WHAT IF I DON’T KNOW HOW TO ANSWER ANY OF THE QUESTIONS YOU JUST POSED? CAN ATB STILL HELP MY SMALL BUSINESS IMPROVE OUR NETWORK SECURITY?
A: Absolutely. The experts at ATB can help almost any organization identify and mitigate security risks. If network security is a relatively new concern to your business, our team of experts will walk you through the process step-by-step and help you quickly identify your biggest threats and devise a customized action plan for your company. Likewise, if network security is an ongoing concern for your organization, the IT professionals at ATB can help you step up your game with a comprehensive, multi-tiered security strategic plan that will help you address current security concerns and minimize future risks. We understand that each business’ needs are different, and we will help you find the best solutions based on your specific needs and budget.
Q: YOU PERFORM A RISK ASSESSMENT AND FIND NUMEROUS RED FLAGS. WHAT’S NEXT?
A: At ATB we understand that for many businesses, the risk assessment process can be an eye-opener. (You’re not alone if you thought you were secure only to find out there are lots of gaps in your security protocol.) We also know that budgets and resources aren’t unlimited and that it is unrealistic to think that all risks will be eliminated. With that said, once we understand the potential pitfalls, we can begin to prioritize and formulate a long term security strategy with your explicit business interests in mind.
Q: ONCE ATB CREATES A PLAN, WILL YOUR TEAM HELP ME IMPLEMENT THE RECOMMENDED STRATEGIES AND HELP KEEP ME ON TRACK?
A: Definitely. ATB is a solutions provider and our experienced IT professionals are here to help you at every step along the way. The reality is that network security is an ongoing process and when you choose to partner with ATB you can be rest assured that we will work diligently to help ensure the business you worked so hard to create is well protected, and that you have a solid plan for business continuity should the worst case scenario ever occur.