Learning Lessons from How Six Degrees Stays Up-to-Date with Cyber Security Threats

Cyber Hygiene: How to Achieve Defence in Depth

Cyber hygiene refers to best practices that organisations can implement to improve their cyber security posture while engaging in day-to-day business activities. At Six Degrees we constantly monitor our cyber hygiene to ensure we remain as secure as possible.

Here are some of the most common and critical areas that we believe need to be incorporated into your ongoing management processes:

• Ensuring that routers and firewalls are installed and properly configured;
• Enforcing role-based access (‘need to know’) user permissions for authorised users;
• Ensuring that all antivirus, spamware, and other anti-malware protection is properly configured and – critically – that output is monitored and actioned;
• Updating all operating systems, applications, software and firmware with the latest security patches in a timely manner;
• Enforcing strong password rules and multi-factor authentication (MFA) procedures for all users;
• Ensuring that all computer networks are correctly segmented, and that those segments processing valuable data are covered by robust and tested data backup and recovery solutions.

Systems that are well-maintained are less likely to be vulnerable to cyber security risks. But although doing the basics properly is a great starting place, it does take into consideration external factors that can significantly impact an IT environment. Digital transformation projects can introduce new risks and vulnerabilities where existing controls are no longer effective. On this basis, how you plan for a secure future?

Adopting a comprehensive cyber security strategy enables you to increase your security posture in a controlled, efficient manner, predicting risks and removing knee jerk reactions. To meet this challenge, cyber security must become an ongoing, iterative process.

Adopt a Pragmatic Approach to Stay Up-to-Date with Cyber Security Threats

With cyber threats on the increase, how can you deliver more efficient protection for your organisation? The answer lies in orienting yourself and your organisation towards your objectives with a pragmatic approach. You need to:

• Accept that your organisation will not be 100% secure from cyber threats.
• Build a fluid and agile system that can respond flexibly to uncertainty, change and new information.
• Incrementally improve that system one step at a time.

This process is something we call the cyber security journey at Six Degrees. It involves a five-step iterative review process of your organisation and your cyber security capabilities — illustrated in the diagram below.