What You Should Look for in a Cybersecurity Specialist

Cybercrime is a booming industry. The latest estimates say it’s already worth at least $6 trillion a year.

It takes many forms: A pensioner might be persuaded to send money to a well-meaning Nigerian princess by a scam email. 

A large business might be held to ransom by inadvertently allowing malicious software into its system. They have to pay up or the entire system is deleted.

A start-up company might lose its entire precious customer database to hackers – who then promptly sell it to a rival.

With increasing examples like this happening across the commercial spectrum, it’s hard to overestimate the importance of cybersecurity for today’s businesses and organizations.

The problems are clear to see – but what can be done to stem this tide of cyber danger?

Not surprisingly, in the face of so many attacks on our cybersecurity, specialist companies have evolved. The best of these are now offering a range of systems and platforms that promise a high level of protection. Their defensive systems might be the latest state-of-the-art flexible cloud-based cyber protection that uses a zero trust VPN or it might be an old-school firewall and password protection system standing guard at the entry points to your network. Or it might be somewhere in between.

What system is best for you depends to some extent on circumstance and budget. Most industry experts advise that in cybersecurity it’s often best to go for the most recent and highly developed solution. 

This is a fast moving world – and the latest security system is likely to be the best way to beat the latest threats from any rogue elements.

Things to Look for in a Cybersecurity Specialist

Whatever degree of system protection you are looking for, there are certain things that it pays to look for in any cyber security specialist.

• Firstly, and rather obviously, are they a cybersecurity specialist? It could be best to find someone who offers expertise in that one particular area – rather than a generic IT company offering additional services in security.
• Then you need to find a specialist prepared to adapt to your precise needs. It’s unlikely that a one-size-fits-all, off-the-shelf system will work across multiple applications. And you don’t want to be paying for systems and facilities that you don’t need.
• Are they fly-by-night or here for the long-term? You’ll need to find someone who will be on call and available to advise you over many years to come. Find someone you feel you can work with into the future.
• Ensure that the cybersecurity specialist is capable of dealing with the modern ways of working – that means a wide range of endpoints in any network. People are likely to work and access your network from many different devices and locations.
  Your security needs to be flexible enough to deal with these circumstances.
• Find a security provider that is comfortable dealing with big data and artificial intelligence. These are the modern essential tools in the battle to discriminate between legitimate users, abnormal bots and hackers. That’s how security systems should be able to discover the bad guys from the good.
• Has the specialist worked with a diverse client base over several years? They are likely to have learned a lot about devising systems to cope with all sorts of eventualities. To be sure, why not ask for testimonials from past clients?
• Study the cybersecurity provider’s client history. Have they worked for a close rival of yours? Beware of any conflict of interests.
• Look for the best level of customer service. Imagine something crashing over the weekend. Will the security provider rush to the rescue – or leave it until Monday morning? 
• Don’t necessarily focus on cost. That’s a hard piece of advice for many businesses to accept but there’s a good reason.

More than 60% of businesses that suffered a data breach declare bankruptcy within six months. Is it work trying to save a little on the provision of a security system that will avoid that outcome?

It’s always worth shopping around and price is one aspect but the cheapest might not always be the most useful to your organization.

Cybersecurity means protecting systems that are connected by the internet from malicious infiltration. This can include hardware, networks, software and probably most importantly data.

The whole point of such systems is to defend against the increasingly likely external attacks to a system. These are designed to gain access, alter, delete, destroy or extort the sensitive data on the system.

The growing problem of cybersecurity is testament to the enormous rise in the threat level from these outside dangers. Many threats are capable of completely disabling and even deleting an organization’s network.

It is important to train staff to recognize and minimize the risks and to manage data in a safe and responsible way. Ultimately however the design and delivery of the security packages most organizations need are beyond the expertise of the normal IT operations staff.

They need to know how to minimize risks and implement systems, but a cybersecurity specialist is more likely to understand how to protect every aspect of your network.

The threats to security are constantly evolving, so should you respond to them. So using a specialist will increase the likelihood that your defense is able to repel – even the latest hacking tactics and malware attacks.