How to Choose the Right Cybersecurity Consulting Company

How to Choose the Right Cybersecurity Consulting Company

How to Choose the Right Cybersecurity Consulting Company

We know what you’re thinking – why would anyone need a  cybersecurity consultant when they can just get top-notch firewalls and anti-malware software? There is no genuinely foolproof way to make your data completely secure, but there are ways to defend from any outcoming attacks and prepare for them. To do so, you need a cybersecurity consultant.

A consultant protects and attacks your system with the purpose of testing for weaknesses. They create defenses against potential threats and find possible holes in the security software and firmware. Once a consultant finds a flaw by ethically attacking the defenses, they can correct it and make the system more secure. This is a much better way of safekeeping your system than using antivirus software. A consultant can tell the risks and find exploits in the system that a program can not identify. Depending on your software infrastructure, you might need some custom software development to fit your exact cybersecurity needs.

Network security

Picture a highway within a big city. Traffic lights flashing, cars buzzing, and endless crossroads on top of crossroads. Surrounded by tall buildings filled with people, same as the cars below. Each has its own small story to tell. Someone is going to work, someone is buying groceries, and someone is watching the latest season of a famous TV show. What you just imagined is almost exactly what a computer network looks like. All of the buildings are computers, while the people in them are different software and data completing the tasks for which they are responsible. The highway is the connection between them; the cars are data transfers, and the people in the cars are the data itself. Regardless of how much someone knows about computers or networks’ inner workings, everyone knows what chaos would ensue if there were no traffic laws in place on a highway. People would not know which lane to pick, when to go and when to stop, or even where the allocated parking spaces are. Those laws and regulations are the data transfer protocols set in place to ensure safe data transfer from place A to place B. Now we come to the irregularities, to those who don’t follow the rules.

Network security could be achieved at a basic level through firewalls, anti-malware, and antivirus software. However, this is not an ideal solution as it leaves protection flaws invisible to any program. The only way to make sure these errors are fixed is to have them monitored by experienced cybersecurity professionals. If your end goal is to improve your overall network security, you should be looking for cybersecurity professionals who specialize in the field of general cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity Posture

As in life, some of the rules applied to network connections can be bent and abused to benefit individuals who discover weaknesses. Someone knowing someone else leaves their car unlocked, in combination with knowing where they park, could be a recipe for disaster. People who can find backdoors into your system or those who notice loose data could abuse that information for their gain. These cyber attackers aim to find any way of accessing information they see as valuable, and they usually find it in less secure systems. Depending on your security posture, the type of break-in could be easy or near to impossible for the attacker.

In the cybersecurity business, the security posture of a system is the level of capability for defense the system has on its own. Once this score is established for a client, cybersecurity experts seek to find ways of improving it to one as high as possible. This is done by running a risk assessment or vulnerability testing. Now, what is a risk assessment and vulnerability testing? Essentially, it means that the cybersecurity consulting firm you have employed will look for the ways it could enter the client’s system or the systems that could be easily attacked. This serves to find potential holes and threats to the system’s security, as well as undiscovered vulnerabilities and possible backdoors for malicious hackers.

A relevant phase of this process is prioritizing risks and their unravelment in a specific order. The starting point is well-known issues that are commonly used as ways of software abuse, and the endpoint is patching up any flaws that are unique to your network. Depending on the cybersecurity firm you choose, you will have a different range of jobs they will be able to fulfill. Most companies provide all the security necessary to their clients and prepare their networks to defend against most threats. This is the middle ground solution between simple network security improvement and a full cybersecurity solution. If you are looking to improve the collective security status of your organization (from its network, to all hardware and software included in its work) without monitoring over time – looking for organizations that specialize in cybersecurity posture improvement is the way to go.

Cybersecurity Solutions

There are many possible ways to find solutions for security breaches within separate systems. From automated to monitored and planned, they can cover almost any risk level and make every defense system sustainable. Renewing certain protocols, drivers and securing common backdoors can be challenging, even for experienced programmers. That is why the term ‘ethical hacking’ has been introduced to describe those who use the methods real attackers would use. The main difference is that they are being paid by the network owners to find the system’s weaknesses. Once they find ways to break into a network, possible vulnerabilities, or any potential backdoors, they can report back to their employer and look for solutions that will make that point of entry impossible for any later potential threat.

On the other hand, automated security is based on different software handpicked or even created for your specific network safety needs. Once the software is finished and implemented adequately into the network, it can prevent most of the found issues. If a system’s defenses are found to lack in some specific way, that is the exact hole the software will fill. Of course, the software is fully tailored to your needs after your network or system has been thoroughly inspected and analyzed by the cybersecurity consulting firm you have contracted. Usually, that is done by running penetration tests that expose the system’s vulnerabilities and help the cybersecurity consultants draft a cybersecurity strategy in line with possible risks.

Monitored security solutions are those in which a cybersecurity professional will monitor your network system security for any new irregularities and problems which may appear over time. This is crucial as no system stays the same forever. Regular monitoring and checkups can drastically reduce the chance of your data being a target of a cyber-attack. It is a way of constantly creating new lines of defense to neutralize the threat. Moreover, it is one of the responsibilities of a cybersecurity consultant to keep the cybersecurity strategy and related processes up to date. They should also continually learn about new cybersecurity technologies and best practices.

Having a cybersecurity professional install and monitor proper cybersecurity solutions should be a priority for companies looking to improve their overall cybersecurity and to keep it at a satisfactory level over time – improving it as needed and reassessing the risks related to cybersecurity on a regular basis.

Cybersecurity Companies

Cybersecurity companies vary in ways they solve issues, the general quality of their solutions, and the level of experience they have. Each cybersecurity business differs in the services they provide, and will likely have a specific expertise. No specialization is more complex than others, just different. All cybersecurity companies aim to protect, but their methods differ depending on their expertise and the needs of the client.

For instance, a company specializing in transactions would be better prepared to defend against monetary cyber heists. A firm that manages money transfers requires an entirely different type of protection, whereas a company that handles no financial transfers over its network does not need that kind of security. As another example – if you need a specific assessment for an application within your system, you should look for cybersecurity companies specializing in risk assessment and security improvement for the kind of application you are using.

One of the companies providing cybersecurity consulting services is The i4 Group. They ensure that all their strategies are up to date by using various tools, such as AppGate, Forcepoint, Netskope, Okta, Fortinet, Cylance, and Blackberry. Contact them today to learn more about how cybersecurity consulting can help you secure your business online!