Balancing acts: Harnessing the power of automation

[Images: Adobe Stock / WrightStudio]

When automation and cybersecurity meet, the results can be remarkable. But in the rush to implement automation, companies can lose sight of the fact that cyber attacks are on the rise. The balancing act isn’t easy, but companies that can deliberately integrate security with digital technologies will set themselves up for success.

From improving healthcare to helping us manage an unwieldy inbox, modern technology has made an almost incomprehensible impact on our lives. I can even credit my health to automation—a timely alert from my Apple Watch once allowed me to get help quickly and avoid a medical emergency. These benefits, however, don’t come without a cost.

Now more than ever, much of our lives exist in a digital space, meaning the threat from virtual adversaries is at an all-time high. Without stepping outside his living room, a criminal can reach out through the web and steal login credentials from an unsuspecting person across the world. Even the biggest and most well-funded corporations can’t stop every threat.

There’s no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but companies do need to take cybersecurity vigilance seriously while embracing automation.

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It’s hard to overstate how essential automation is to modern business (though sometimes it seems like we’re trying to!). Repetitive tasks like filling spreadsheets with data, scheduling follow-ups with clients, or sending reminder nudges to customers can usually be replaced with a smart digital tool. Often inexpensive and easy to implement, these simple technologies can save a company thousands or even millions of dollars by reducing errors and freeing up human workers to solve more difficult problems. They also improve customer satisfaction, leading to improved business outcomes and fostering sustainable growth.

Looking to improve employee morale? Automation can help with that, too. Thanks to the plethora of collaborative and productivity-oriented platforms available, workers can now enjoy more flexible work arrangements. Far from just an asset to workers, companies and customers also reap the benefits when employees can seamlessly work from anywhere to deliver value. The result? A win-win-win scenario with automation at the center.

Automation can also improve cybersecurity postures. By harnessing powerful automated tools, overwhelmed cyber defense teams can streamline their processes, improve threat detection, and speed up their response times to incidents. The best tools continuously monitor networks for suspicious activities, compare abnormalities with baseline readings, and both detect and respond to potential threats—all in real time.

If you hope to counter today’s threats, the first step is understanding what you’re up against. The vast majority of organizations, especially small-to-medium companies, will face cyber threats daily. Has this conjured up an image of a hooded hacker in front of six monitors in a dark room? Think again—the greatest threat to modern companies comes from an employee accidentally introducing malware to the network as a result of phishing. Phishing is responsible for the majority of breaches, with an estimated 3.4 billion fraudulent emails being sent every day.

Many of these phishing emails will be caught by an organization’s integrated cybersecurity defense system, usually consisting of patch management, robust firewalls, virtual private networks (VPNs), and the latest anti-virus/spam filters. But the best phishing emails often make it through these checkpoints, so a layered defense plan is essential.

Companies can better secure themselves by implementing robust cybersecurity measures across their organization, like encrypting data (both in transit and at rest), performing regular data backups, moving services to the cloud, and performing regular security audits. Implementing even a few small changes, like multi-factor authentication and enforcing strict, complex password requirements, can pay dividends in the long run. Far from being an expensive overhaul, even small companies can benefit from hardening themselves against cyber attacks.

Remember: To truly protect against cyber crime, good security practices need to be integrated into the company culture—tacking on some tools after the fact just isn’t enough.

A modern business can’t hope to survive without automation, but the digital threat is greater than ever. There’s a delicate balance to be found between security and efficiency, beginning with several actions.

Work with a consultant to strengthen your cybersecurity posture. For companies lacking the foundation for a strong security program, a consultant can conduct a detailed security audit and network scans, identifying areas for improvement. This information can be used to decide which additions would provide the greatest return on investment and ensure alignment with an organization’s short- and long-term goals.

Explore employee training. People are any organization’s biggest vulnerability—the better they’re trained, the less likely they are to fall for the latest phishing attempt. Making a cybersecurity training event a prerequisite for gaining computer access—and then making that a regular requirement—will go a long way to changing the culture. With it, the company’s culture needs to embrace cybersecurity as an integral part of business, not just an annoying item on the checklist.

Realize that culture change is the greatest step a company can take to balance automation and security. Employees often see cybersecurity measures as inconveniences that make their work more difficult, but with today’s technology, that shouldn’t be the case. Today’s authentication processes don’t just provide better security than the passwords of the past—they can create a seamless experience for employees.

By adopting even a few of these steps, almost any company can harden itself against attack. What’s more, this can happen without upsetting employees, and all while continuing to use the latest automation solutions.

Threats are constantly changing, so it’s important to remain vigilant by staying informed about the latest developments in the field. Companies should require regular cybersecurity training for their employees, ensuring the course material stays relevant to the current threats. There are always industry conferences and events to attend, and doing periodic check-ins with third-party security experts can also pay dividends.

Automation and cybersecurity aren’t at odds—they just require a deliberate plan to work together.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Par Chadha is the Founder, CEO, and CIO of HGM Fund, managing investments in the financial tech, health tech, and communications industries. Read Par's Executive Profile here. More