Your Organization May Need a Cybersecurity Advisor: Here’s What To Consider
The past year has proven just how much of a necessity cybersecurity is for businesses, regardless of an organization’s industry, size, or location. However, every organization’s needs will vary based on different factors, including regulatory requirements, annual budgets, and internal priorities. A cybersecurity advisor can help assess your organization and construct a cyber plan depending on the needs of your business operations.
Just like any other technology, security solutions and services must not only be implemented, but continuously evaluated and maintained. They also need to integrate with other technologies, processes, and infrastructure within the organization, without becoming a barrier to conducting business. An external cybersecurity advisor can assist with this ongoing, often overlooked task.
With these factors in mind, understanding the cybersecurity products, and services available for your organization, and ensuring they run efficiently within a business, can often feel daunting and overwhelming. A cybersecurity advisor can make this process feel less intimidating. Here’s what to look for in a trusted cybersecurity advisor.
Selecting the right advisor for your business
The journey of building, maintaining, and maturing a cybersecurity program is different for every business. Some organizations require support when it comes to security gaps within their network, and learning how to mitigate those risks, while others hire a cybersecurity advisor to support a company’s leadership team, assisting in identifying certain risks and maximizing cost benefits. A trusted cybersecurity advisor may also take on the role of identifying best practices when it comes to a company’s security team and relaying those to the organization’s internal employees. Regardless of their role or function, the most important part about hiring a cybersecurity advisor is feeling confident in the recommendations they make for the needs of your business.
More often than not you’ll know if your organization has chosen the right cybersecurity advisor based on the following factors:
- The advisor will have accessible resources with a wide range of skills, in case they do not specialize in a specific subject matter. They can pull from their network of subject matter experts, if needed, making their services well-rounded.
- They will have your company’s best interest at heart. The advisor should make your organization feel like you can completely trust them on any recommendation they make, and that it’s specifically catered to the needs of your business, and no one else’s.
- The advisor will take the time to get to know the company inside and out over time, so that the advisor and business can feel confident in the recommendations and path forward.
- They will be personable. A good cybersecurity advisor is someone who can relate to you, and someone that you genuinely enjoy working with. They will be making several recommendations for your business, so you need to feel comfortable taking advice from them.
Seamlessly working with a cybersecurity advisor
Before you think about hiring a trusted cybersecurity advisor, it’s important to consider what you may need them for. For example, before engaging with the advisor, have you determined if someone already working within the company may be the right person for the job? You will also need to consider the logistics of the role — will it be a part-time or full-time job? How much will you pay them? Will it be a single role or a team of people? You will also need to know if the advisor has connections to experts with different skill sets than just their own, for certain situations where outside advice is needed.
Choosing a trusted cybersecurity advisor is not a one size fits all approach. However, all trusted advisors have the same goal in mind, which is to help keep the organization’s security operations running smoothly and educating employers on the tools and best practices to lower the risk of becoming the next victim of a cyberattack. A trusted cybersecurity advisor is the gateway to a security-first mindset within a business — you just need to know where to start and what to look for before engaging with such services.
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