Cybersecurity Protocols Ensure Lifesaving Protections
Securing the physical infrastructure – such as the building and equipment – is an important aspect of ensuring the safety of your employees, customers, and visitors. But securing your company’s digital assets with a robust cybersecurity plan is equally important.
In some fields, a hacker gaining access to the digital infrastructure of your business could put lives at risk – in addition to the more “traditional” digital concerns, such as gaining access to financial information.
For example, in a healthcare setting, patients’ lives depend on caregivers having immediate access to critical and accurate medical information, devices, and resources. A security breach or software failure within the access control systems at the hospital pharmacy or drug-storage units could result in a lifesaving medication not being administered as quickly as it needs to be. Similarly, water treatment facilities have been the target of hackers who are able to undermine the water supply and create hazardous or even life-threatening conditions by remotely altering the chemical compounds that take water from “safe to drink” to “poisonous,” putting potentially millions of people at risk.
To prevent these types of security incidents, it’s important that organizations implement the four pillars of cybersecurity: Detect, Analyze, Communicate, and Respond. These fundamental principles highlight the critical importance of ensuring the safety and resilience of an organization’s digital assets – including the security software and hardware that’s operating on their network.
Pillar 1: Detect
Detection is cybersecurity’s first and crucial step. It involves identifying potential threats and vulnerabilities in your security infrastructure and protocols. This proactive approach helps you spot anomalies, malicious activities, or breaches early, reducing the impact of cyberattacks.
Implementing robust intrusion detection systems, firewalls, antivirus software, and network monitoring tools are essential components of detection within your security infrastructure. Similarly, analyzing network traffic, monitoring logs, and employing anomaly detection techniques can help identify suspicious activities and deviations from established protocols.
“Our SecurePlan provides clients with constant monitoring and support to ensure that their digital assets are as safe as their physical ones,” says Vice President Phil Lake. “Not only do we provide round-the-clock monitoring to our clients, but we immediately remedy issues before they’re able to become larger-scale problems – and we do this all without nickel-and-diming the customer since it’s part of their regular maintenance plan.”
Pillar 2: Analyze
Once an incident has been detected, we know that it’s crucial that a team of security professionals properly analyzes it to get a comprehensive understanding of its scope, immediate ramifications, and potential long-term impact. Proper analysis allows you to assess the severity of the threat and make informed decisions on how to respond effectively.
By constantly monitoring network traffic patterns and logs, MCA’s security professionals can provide insights into attackers’ methods and tactics, enabling better defense and protocol adjustments.
Pillar 3: Communicate
To coordinate a successful incident response, prompt and clear communication ensures that relevant stakeholders are aware of the situation and can take appropriate actions. When the MCA team recognizes a potential weakness in the system or an active security incident, we immediately notify the proper individuals or teams to keep them apprised of the situation.
“While we proactively monitor and maintain systems for our clients, we also make sure that we’re always providing clear and concise information. By working closely with our customers, we can help mitigate damage and loss while also proactively coming up with solutions to help maintain or increase security as needed,” says Lake. “Our number one priority is to provide exceptional customer service, especially during high-stress situations.”
Pillar 4: Respond
The ability to respond swiftly and effectively to security incidents is critical for minimizing damage and restoring normal operations. With a well-defined incident response plan, the steps to take when a breach occurs are outlined clearly so that there’s no question as to who should be handling what aspects of the situation or what the next step should be.
Similarly, incident reporting protocols are critical to ensure that your organization is able to review what led to the situation and what steps were taken to remedy it.
“One of the best ways to keep your team and customers safe is to review your processes and procedures routinely. Automated incident reporting allows you to track and review security incidents of all types – from physical attempts to breach the building to a brute-force attack on your digital infrastructure,” says Lake. “It also provides any law enforcement agencies involved in an investigation with a thorough account of the situation, including any automatically generated reports.”
About MCA
MCA is one of the largest and most trusted integrators in the United States, offering world-class voice, data, and security solutions that enhance the quality, safety, and productivity of customers, operations, and lives. More than 65,000 customers trust MCA to provide carefully researched solutions for a safe, secure, and more efficient workplace. As your trusted advisor, we reduce the time and effort needed to research, install, and maintain the right solutions to make your workplace better.
Our team of certified professionals across the United States delivers a full suite of reliable technologies with a service-first approach. The MCA advantage is our extensive service portfolio to support the solution lifecycle from start to finish. www.callmc.com