In today’s financially-driven world of cybercrime, all organizations are targets — and that includes SMBs.
However, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) often lack the resources and in-house know-how about proper protection. In many ways, security can feel elusive to these smaller companies that need protection but have only realized security needs as their enterprises have grown.
Security maturity does not need to be an abstract idea for SMBs. Not every company needs a fully staffed SOC and an array of security prevention technologies. What they do need is what that SOC provides: network visibility. SMBs can quickly grow their internal cyber capabilities with visibility tools like SIEMs.
SMBs need security systems ready for today that don’t cost a fortune. The market offers numerous free and low-cost security tools that can help SMBs on a budget quickly improve security needs.
Discuss Potential Scenarios
What happens if a password gets stolen?
The answer to that question and others like it can speak volumes about an organization’s security posture. More mature security environments may leverage an identity management tool with two-factor authentication that would limit user access to just a tiny part of the network. For others, a stolen password may be a prelude to a significant breach.
These tabletop sessions can be a critical starting point for improving security maturity and discovering the specific security tools needed to improve security posture. The good news is that the market offers numerous free and low-cost security tools that can help SMBs on a budget quickly improve security needs.
A Call for Visibility
All security starts with network visibility. Organizations cannot adjust what they do not measure. Security information and event management (SIEM) tools can provide this insight by collecting logs from multiple sources within an environment and detecting suspicious behavior.
Since security threats change rapidly, a SIEM can quickly alert administrators of changes that may require further review. Knowing what concerns exist, technology leaders can make risk-based decisions on which vulnerabilities to prioritize as they improve their security maturity.
Identity authentication tools often provide strong security at a low cost. These tools require users to use multi-factor authentication (MFA) and can stop bad actors from moving through an environment with impunity. As more organizations move to Zero Trust frameworks, identity management tools’ value continues to grow. Even if an organization has not started with Zero Trust, leveraging some simple best practices can provide immediate dividends.
Low-Cost Tools
Along with SIEM and identity management, several cloud and application vendors offer additional security tools included in subscriptions or as low-cost add-ons. Microsoft, for example, offers a variety of built-in security features, including multi-factor authentication, for those that run Microsoft 365.
Microsoft also includes a step-by-step checklist of security benchmarks from the Center for Internet Security (CIS) for its products. This tool is free, although it does generate a lot of log data that may be costly to organizations with a SIEM that charges based on log ingestion.
The CIS Top 20 framework is an excellent way for organizations to measure their security maturity. Organizations that fall short of the CIS Top 20 standards can follow those guidelines to fill potential holes.
A canary token is another helpful tool, as it allows users to drop free tokens around their environment. These tokens are an early warning sign, letting administrators know critical information. For example, an administrator could set tokens to see when someone utilizes an API key and which keys they use to see if something seems off.
