For professionals already engaged in cybersecurity, staying current with certifications is necessary to remain competitive. Here, Alejandra Zuluaga, the Vice President of Business Development & Strategic Growth at CertiProf, says in today’s high-threat environment, cybersecurity certifications are a must-have requirement to prepare for the changes brought by digital transformation.
When small businesses are hit by cyberattacks, the results can be devastating. There’s the oft-cited example about how 60% of small businesses hit by a cyberattack are out of business within a yearOpens a new window , given the cost of mitigating a single cybersecurity breach runs around three-and-a-half million dollars on average.Â
Cybersecurity is a worldwide issue that affects anyone who uses a computer, and everyone should have some basic level of awareness of cybersecurity practices and procedures. With that in mind, the pandemic has shown that cybersecurity certifications are no longer reserved for computer security or computer systems experts alone.Â
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Certificates Fit Into Every Business – From Startup to Global Enterprise
Cybersecurity certificates are earned when an individual commits to learning the best practices, policies and procedures in accordance with a specific cybersecurity framework. The most common cybersecurity frameworks needed to conduct business at an enterprise level are the SOC1 and SOC2 frameworks. Organizations might also opt to bolster their security measures by applying a best practice controls framework like an ISO 2700x or SANS Critical series.
Any certification and the bodies of knowledge they embody apply to any industry or company worldwide. This universality means that it doesn’t matter the company’s size – every business should have some sort of certified cybersecurity framework in place. Reiterating the salient point above: the average cyberattack costs approximately $3 million to mitigate. Not having robust controls for preventing and detecting eminent threats runs small business owners a huge risk that many cannot afford to take.
All Systems Are Vulnerable to Cyberattacks
As technological advances have become an essential part of our lives, the risk of cyberattack has increased in-turn. The more interconnected our digital systems become, the more prone they are to being exploited or disrupted.Â
As cybersecurity measures have become more robust across enterprise-level and multinational organizations, hackers have set their sights in recent years on sectors that previously did not seem to be of a high risk of cyberattack.Â
Municipal utilities companies, school districts, and small to midsize businesses have been targeted during the pandemic because these types of organizations typically don’t have the budget or the expertise to onboard a robust cybersecurity team.
Cybersecurity certifications help bridge the skills gap for smaller IT teams in need of a shot in the arm. They allow companies to design and implement controls to mitigate the risks to which their information systems, processes, data, how-know, and customer data can be exposed – especially when they’re responsible for processing customer data.
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Cultivate a Culture of Continuous Education
By nature, cybersecurity certifications are set to have shorter expirations than other IT certifications due to the ever-shifting nature of the threat landscape. This is where the importance of continuing education to stay updated on the Infosec policies and permutations comes into play.
Comprehensive open-source resources for cybersecurity professionals seeking to boost their knowledge include resources collated by University of Bristol’s Cybersecurity Body of Knowledge (CyBOK) projectOpens a new window – which aims to provide a repository of cybersecurity topics, use cases, webinars, and podcasts for anyone interested in the topic.
Cybersecurity professionals who want to advance their careers, stay up to date with current changes in policy and get an overview of the existent threat landscape are encouraged to engage with such free resources in between certificate updates.
Conclusion
No matter the size of the company or the sector, cybersecurity certifications are industry best practices for professionals who deal with computer systems or networks.Â
Additionally, a suite of free online resources is available to cybersecurity professionals committed to creating a culture of lifelong learning across their teams and organizations.
If your company does any business online or depends upon computer technology in any way, make sure the professionals in charge of managing these systems are up to date with their certifications, or you could end up exposing yourself to undue risk.
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