Yes, winter is approaching. I know, it sounds like the prophetic line from the popular books and TV series Game of Thrones. But it’s true—cold (and nasty) weather is nearly upon most of us (Florida, you’re excluded of course).
Now, I live in a portion of the country (Pennsylvania) where getting ready for winter is a bit more rigorous and demands of the person who doesn’t like surprises (and I don’t) a bit more proactive planning and preparation. I’ve learned not to wait until a blizzard hits before checking out the attic and all the insulation and roofing above my head, or to wait until snow is stacked up against the house to make sure all the windows are properly sealed and the outside faucets are turned off and protected with insulated covers. Nothing is worse than trying to deal with a house emergency when winter conditions are at their worst. I mean, for most of us our house is our biggest investment. Why leave it to chance?
As I was wandering around the outside of the house recently, checking out caulking and gutters and trying to figure out what could possibly go wrong when winter weather turns bad, what came to mind was that, even though I am being somewhat proactive in my preparations, I am still being mostly reactive. We’ve already had freezing weather for the past month, and just by luck of the draw we haven’t had an early winter storm in the region yet. In past years, snow has struck much earlier in the season. If I were truly proactive, I would be going around the house year-round, constantly checking on different parts and systems to make sure that no matter what goes on with the weather—winter storm or summer deluge—I am reasonably sure that the house is as prepared as it can be. I excuse myself by saying that home maintenance activities, and mechanical issues in general, just aren’t in my wheelhouse. I know that that’s no excuse. My wife says the same.
What does this have to do with cybersecurity and data protection? Well, an organization might feel that being proactive with cybersecurity defenses means checking things out when a highly publicized data breach occurs or when a threatening vulnerability becomes widely known. Yeah, those are good things to do when reminders like that occur. But shouldn’t every enterprise be doing this fairly consistently, assessing defensive measures and tools, encouraging and monitoring the corporate culture of data security and privacy, and working with trusted vendors and partners to keep ahead of important technology shifts that can mean the difference between safety and disaster? I would think that that’s the essence of proactivity, instead of waiting nearly for the imminent threat of attack to audit and analyze your cybersecurity posture. Doing otherwise would be like waiting until that winter storm is on the horizon to double-check the house.
Given that we’re nearly into a new year, I have made a promise to myself to be more proactive with my house maintenance throughout the entire year so that when the particularly nasty season of winter hits, I know I’m prepared. Given what we’ve seen throughout 2021, with incredibly devastating ransomware attacks and some really high-profile incidents affecting leading enterprises (and their customers), I might recommend to every business large and small a similar resolution to pivot to a more proactive data security posture for 2022. At comforte, we’re here to talk through with you how data security platforms and market-leading data protection methods can help you with that resolution. Of course, we’ll be there for you, too, if you’re in the midst of the crisis (we’ll put on our proverbial snow boots and stand out in the worst of the storm with you trying to mitigate the damage), but with a little more proactivity we can all stay dry and warm. Give it some thought.
