What keeps you up at night? What wakes you in the middle of the night? Besides a crying baby, barking dog or noisy neighbors, most of us have something that stresses us out. Personal finances, job security, relationships are at the top of the list for many.
I tend to have business concerns, those that come from running a business with a few colleagues. How can we meet our financial obligations? What can I do to identify and get in front of new customers? Are we going to get paid this month?
For Melissa Hathaway, the acting senior director for cyberspace for the National Security and Homeland Security Councils, it’s the world’s digital infrastructure. For her, it should be. Anyone that accepts a high-ranking position in the government or industry better have sleepless nights.
Criminals never sleep. Cyber-crime is 24×7. Tools designed to probe, exploit and manipulate are at it non-stop. Because we live in a cyber-world, our defenses never rest. They can never take a day off.
For the small business owner or general manager, selling products, meeting payroll and keeping employees, partners and customers happy are paramount.
Just as our digital infrastructure was driven more by considerations of interoperability and efficiency than of security, most of our IT systems have evolved rather than getting built with an underlying security plan.
Every business, regardless of the size and industry, needs to take an occasional step-back and assess the risks posed to the on-going operations of the business. Do we have a realistic and tested business continuity plan? Do we have a data back-up and recovery plan? Do we have a plan to deal with “Joe, the IT guy, getting hit by the bus?”
I suspect few CEOs and GMs are kept awake at night due to cyber-security risks. But if one expands it to include all business operations, then that which might have been consider to be unlikely, quickly becomes something with a probability that needs some attention.
In today’s world, information security and availability are everyone’s concern.