If internet security still seems like a minefield of confusion, join the club! In a world of ever-changing threats and solutions, most business owners struggle to determine how to best appropriate their resources to obtain protection for their networks and sensitive data. In fact, this situation is so common that the city of London’s police force created a Lego game to illustrate the importance of properly allocating cyber security resources.
Business owners and managers were invited to participate in a simulation, in which they were given a fictional budget for “network security”. They were then presented with a wide array of theoretical options, on which they could spend it. It quickly became apparent that while all of these options were necessary, the “budget” wouldn’t cover all of them. So the game became a challenge of piecing together security methods to obtain thorough coverage.
A reporter covering the event observed teams making the following observations:
“We could go for the basics like anti-virus first, and then do a threat assessment later.”
“We also need CCTV because we don’t know who is working there.”
“We need a firewall in the office as well because they are all on Facebook at lunchtime.”
“What about the risks of GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation]? If our customers’ emails are hacked, we could be exposed to huge fines, which would put the company out of business.”
“So we have really nice employees that look really lovely, bringing cakes in for everybody, who are actually planting devices everywhere?”
The discussions were both thought-provoking and maddening. Whatever choice we made, we were, by default, leaving another part of the business vulnerable.
As the game progressed, team leaders “spent” their budgets on options such as firewalls, anti-virus software, threat assessments, and security training. When mistakes were made, teams faced down threats such as hacking, regulation fines, and bankruptcy.
The two-hour exercise resulted in CEOs viewing internet security in a new light, as they realized that in this day and age, a company’s security often rests in the hands of their IT department. They saw that network security must be multi-faceted in order to address an array of threats, and that overlooking just one area of protection leaves a vulnerability that can be breached.
This sounds a bit scary, but to IT professionals it’s just another day at the office. We specialize in these concerns, so that business owners aren’t faced with the overwhelming task of navigating them alone. For more information on network security, give us a call at 888-RING-MY-TECH. We can map out your options alongside you, so that together we can make sure you’re addressing each potential vulnerability in your system. Because in the real world, network security is no game.
