{"id":8123,"date":"2022-08-09T10:14:43","date_gmt":"2022-08-09T10:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/?p=8123"},"modified":"2022-08-09T10:14:45","modified_gmt":"2022-08-09T10:14:45","slug":"how-to-build-a-cybersecurity-strategy-for-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/how-to-build-a-cybersecurity-strategy-for-startups\/","title":{"rendered":"How to build a cybersecurity strategy for startups"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"8123\" class=\"elementor elementor-8123\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-45e0897e elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"45e0897e\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-2a13f229\" data-id=\"2a13f229\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-264884f6 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"264884f6\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.11.5 - 14-03-2023 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#818a91;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#818a91;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For some startups security is the last priority on a very long list of priorities. It seems like such a daunting task, one that will only cost money, take up time, and slow down the business.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the reality is that security is an important factor in any startup\u2019s success. Many customers will ask for assurance that there is a clear, effective cybersecurity strategy in place. Further, a cyber attack could have a significant impact on business that few startups can afford. Finally, the sooner a cybersecurity strategy is created, the easier it is to embed into the startup\u2019s culture.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The challenge is building a cybersecurity strategy for startups that is appropriate to current needs but is scalable as the company grows.<\/span><\/p><h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is a cybersecurity strategy for startups?<\/span><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A cybersecurity strategy for startups is a detailed plan for implementing cybersecurity across the company.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cybersecurity strategies are often multi-layered, with many different plans, policies, and processes that sit below them in order to create a more secure company overall.<\/span><\/p><h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why is a cybersecurity strategy important for a startup?<\/span><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A cybersecurity strategy for startups will have many benefits for the company, including:<\/span><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The strategy is a clear detailed plan for how the company will secure itself over the next period of time, whether it is one year, three years, or five years.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It can set out the plan for reducing security gaps, including priority areas, quick wins, future requirements, and time lines. After all, not everything can be done at once.\u00a0<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A formal strategy aligns security with the startup\u2019s roadmap, helping ensure that security supports the business\u2019s requirements rather than blocking them.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cybersecurity strategies enable the startup to move from reactive security (simply responding to an incident as it takes place), to a proactive strategy, including preventative measures monitoring, and incident response plans.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A formal strategy can act as evidence demonstrating a commitment to security to potential customers. Good security posture is often a must-have for startups to find their way into the market.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A cybersecurity strategy shows regulators that a startup has the protections in place to adhere to their regulations, for example <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/gdpr-info.eu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GDPR<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/hipaa\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HIPAA<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcisecuritystandards.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">PCI-DSS<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Communicating the strategy to all employees lets everyone know what their roles and responsibilities are in building a secure business, supporting them to build a secure culture.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Step 1: Determine what you need to protect and why<\/span><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first step in establishing an effective cybersecurity strategy for a startup is to understand the\u00a0 company, its assets, and the risks and threats it faces.<\/span><\/p><p><b>What do you need to protect?<\/b><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are the most important assets the company has (intellectual property, code, employee data, customer data etc)?<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Where are these assets held (in the cloud, on prem servers, individual\u2019s laptops, within a database, on a SaaS system or more)?<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are your business\u2019 objectives in the short, medium, and long term, and how will that impact what needs to be protected?<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><b>What are the risks to your startup?<\/b><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Understand the specific threats and risks facing the company<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is the environment your startup operates in?<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are you subject to any regulations?<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Who are your customers, are they subject to any regulations?<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What would an attacker gain from attacking your company?<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is the company\u2019s tolerance to risk?<\/span><\/li><\/ul><h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Step 2: Assess the startup\u2019s cybersecurity maturity<\/span><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The next step is to understand the company\u2019s cybersecurity maturity, identifying what protections are in place, and how well they secure the assets and risks identified in the earlier stage.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some statups may find it useful to assess their cybersecurity maturity against a framework such as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/benefits-of-iso-27001-cybersecurity-framework\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ISO 27001<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which contains controls against all areas of information security. This can be carried out as a gap analysis exercise only, not an intention to get the certification.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The results of this gap analysis can then be used to inform the next stage &#8211; prioritisation of controls.<\/span><\/p><h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Step 3: Identify what you need to implement and when<\/span><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As they say, Rome wasn\u2019t built in a day, and neither will a cybersecurity programme. A very valid element of a cybersecurity strategy for startups is to justify what should be left for another day &#8211; as long as it can be justified.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s why this stage is about prioritistion.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, if you don\u2019t have any customers yet, you may not need to implement certain security functions. Further if everyone is working remotely, and you don\u2019t have an office, consider the importance of remote working practices as a priority, and physical security as not needed just yet. But it may be important to you to protect your product\u2019s source code at all costs, and implement certain protections to do so.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some of the considerations are:<\/span><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is everything you are doing now properly secured?<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What do you actually need now, and what will you need in the future?<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/staying-safe-9-cybersecurity-tips-for-startups\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">quick wins to implement right now<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and what will take more effort to implement?<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What benefits can you get from the tools you use? For example, the big tech vendors such as AWS, Azure, GitHub, and so on all offer various inbuilt security features that can be turned on with the click of a button.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For tech startups, another consideration at this point is how to incorporate security in the software development life cycle in order to move from a Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) to a <b>Secure<\/b> Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC). <\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This prioritisation stage will also enable you to understand the security budget you have now, and the budget you will need going forward. This stage will also enable security to tie key cybersecurity upgrades to the business plan and ensure that cybersecurity is one step ahead, for example by putting in necessary protections before the product launches and is exposed to the internet.<\/span><\/p><h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Step 4: Document the cybersecurity strategy<\/span><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make sure that everyone has access to the strategy, and understands what you are trying to achieve through a documented set of plans, policies, processes, statements, and more. These documents will enable you to set out the goals and direction for cybersecurity in the company, provide clear guidelines for teams to follow, and allow you to demonstrate commitment to customers, auditors, and regulators alike.<\/span><\/p><h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Step 5: Train your employees to be part of it<\/span><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A significant amount of cyber attacks originate from employee activity (for example falling for a form of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/6-social-engineering-tactics-in-action-in-2021\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">social engineering<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">). However, without team cooperation, the cybersecurity strategy will fail.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Team involvement can include encouraging individuals to take ownership for security in their area of responsibility and training everyone across the company to adopt secure practices, from MFA to secure coding.<\/span><\/p><h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Step 6: Build an ongoing programme<\/span><\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/security-risk-and-compliance\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cybersecurity strategy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is never one and done. It requires constant review and update in order to ensure that it addresses both the changing business needs of a growing startup and the ever changing cybersecurity landscape.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay safe<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For some startups security is the last priority on a very long list of priorities. It seems like such a daunting task, one that will only cost money, take up time, and slow down the business. But the reality is that security is an important factor in any startup\u2019s success. Many customers will ask for&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":8138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[63,62],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8123"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8148,"href":"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8123\/revisions\/8148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outofsite.biz\/cynance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}