How organizations with an emerging cybersecurity program can accelerate risk reduction

When cybersecurity programs are mature the security functions of an organization go beyond preventing attacks and breaches and become business enablers. Less mature cybersecurity organizations that haven’t yet grown into that enabler role need to chart a path to get there.

While less mature cybersecurity organizations can certainly accomplish much through internal efforts, sometimes they need a boost from trusted advisors to help them fully achieve their goals. Cybersecurity consultants can help identify and establish essential elements of emerging cybersecurity programs, from strategy, governance, and enterprise risk management to controls architecture, implementation, and management.

Whether or not your organization plans to utilize consultants, AT&T Cybersecurity Consulting crafted this white paper to clarify initiatives for an emerging program. Recommendations include:

	Understanding and managing system configurations and vulnerabilities across your network is a key part of identifying and managing cyber risk
	Risk assessments help identify mission-critical services and data, and can help prioritize the biggest risk gaps in securing them
	Getting started with risk management initiatives, including Zero Trust
	Systematic all-employee cybersecurity awareness training, when done well, turns employees into a first line of defense at endpoints
	Penetration tests probe beyond the scope of automated vulnerability scan