Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents

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In today’s digital world, cyber security incidents aren’t exclusive to large corporations or government agencies—they pose a significant threat to small businesses, enterprises, and individuals alike. The increasing sophistication of cyber threats, from phishing and malware to targeted cyber intrusions, underscores the urgent need for robust, multi-layered defences. By adopting prioritised mitigation strategies, businesses can protect their critical systems, data, and business functions while ensuring continuity.

While the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s (ACSC) Essential Eight provides a foundational framework, mitigating cyber security risks effectively requires complementary strategies. This guide explores key tactics to help organisations mitigate cyber security incidents, including domain security, email protection, network segmentation, and third-party risk management.

5 strategies to mitigate cyber security incidents

I. Strengthening Security with Domain and Email Protection

1. Domain Security: Protecting Your Online Presence

A compromised domain can open the door to a variety of cyber threats, such as phishing, website defacement, and data breaches. Ensuring strong domain security is critical for safeguarding your organisation’s reputation and preventing unauthorised access.

Key Strategies:

  • Enable Domain Locking: Prevent unauthorised domain transfers by locking your domain. This ensures that changes to your registrar or DNS settings can only be made by authorised personnel.
  • Use Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC): DNSSEC protects against DNS spoofing and cache poisoning by ensuring that users are directed to legitimate websites. By verifying DNS records, DNSSEC adds an essential layer of trust.

2. Email Security: Preventing Phishing and Spoofing Attacks

Email remains one of the most common attack vectors for cybercriminals, making robust email protection essential. Implementing protocols such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC helps prevent email spoofing and reduces the risk of phishing attacks.

Key Strategies:

  • SPF (Sender Policy Framework): Verifies that emails are sent from authorised IP addresses, preventing attackers from impersonating your domain. When you implement SPF, you publish a list of approved IP addresses in your domain’s DNS (Domain Name System) records. When an email is received, the recipient mail server checks the SPF record to verify whether the email came from an authorised server.
  • DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail): Adds a cryptographic signature to outgoing emails, ensuring that they haven’t been altered during transmission. The signature is created using a private key and can be verified by the recipient’s mail server using the corresponding public key, which is published in your DNS records. DKIM ensures that the email content has not been altered during transit and that it was indeed sent by an authorised sender.
  • DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance): DMARC builds on SPF and DKIM by adding a policy framework that helps prevent email spoofing and phishing. DMARC allows domain owners to define how they want email receivers to handle authentication failures, providing them with detailed reports about email activity and any authentication issues.

Benefits of Email Protection Protocols:

When used together, these protocols enhance your domain’s email security and deliver multiple benefits:

  • Protection against spoofing and phishing: Ensures attackers cannot impersonate your domain.
  • Improved email deliverability: Reduces the likelihood of legitimate emails being marked as spam.
  • Detailed insights: DMARC reports offer valuable visibility into email activity and potential threats.

II. Enhancing Network Security with Segmentation and Monitoring

1. Network Segmentation and Micro-Segmentation

Effective network segmentation limits an attacker’s ability to move laterally within a network, reducing the potential damage from a breach. Micro-segmentation takes this a step further by applying fine-grained access controls to specific workloads and devices.

Key Strategies:

  • Network Segmentation: Separate sensitive systems (e.g., financial data or mission-critical applications) from less critical parts of the network.
  • Micro-Segmentation: Implement more granular controls that limit access based on user roles, device type, and specific applications.

2. Continuous Monitoring and Threat Intelligence

Proactive threat detection is essential for identifying and mitigating cyber incidents in real-time. Leveraging threat intelligence ensures your organisation stays ahead of emerging threats.

Key Strategies:

  • Use SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) solutions to collect and analyse logs from across the network for unusual activity.
  • Subscribe to threat intelligence feeds from trusted sources, such as the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), to stay informed of new vulnerabilities and attack techniques.
  • Implement continuous monitoring tools that provide real-time alerts on potential threats.

III. Managing Third-Party and Supply Chain Risks

Many cyber security breaches originate from vulnerabilities in third-party vendors. A robust third-party risk management program is essential to minimise these risks.

Key Strategies:

  • Regularly assess the security posture of vendors and partners to ensure they meet your organisation’s security standards.
  • Require third parties to implement strong controls, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) and encryption.
  • Include cyber security clauses in vendor contracts to ensure accountability for security breaches.

IV. Building a Resilient Recovery Strategy

1. Backup and Disaster Recovery Planning

While the ACSC Essential Eight recommends daily backups of critical data, a comprehensive disaster recovery plan ensures business continuity in the event of a successful attack.

Key Strategies:

  • Maintain offsite and cloud-based backups to ensure data availability even if on-premise systems are compromised.
  • Regularly test backup restoration processes to ensure they are reliable and can be executed quickly.
  • Consider using Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) to automate recovery and reduce downtime.

2. Post-Incident Analysis and Continuous Improvement

After a cyber security incident, conducting a thorough review helps improve your defences and minimise future risks.

Key Steps:

  • Perform a root cause analysis to identify vulnerabilities and improve controls.
  • Update incident response procedures based on lessons learned.
  • Use the findings to refine your organisation’s Essential Eight maturity level and ensure ongoing compliance with best practices.

V. Empowering Employees with Cyber Security Awareness

Human error remains a leading cause of cyber incidents. Regular employee education and awareness programs are critical in mitigating risks.

Key Strategies:

  • Conduct regular cyber security training on topics such as phishing, social engineering, and safe online behaviour.
  • Use phishing simulations to test employees’ ability to identify suspicious emails.
  • Encourage a culture of security awareness, where employees feel empowered to report potential threats without fear of reprisal.

In an era where cyber threats are constantly evolving, relying solely on the Essential Eight is not enough. A layered approach that combines robust preventive measures, proactive detection, effective response, and resilient recovery is essential. By adopting these additional strategies, organisations can significantly reduce the risk of cyber security incidents and safeguard their critical business functions.

At IT Networks, we specialise in providing tailored IT outsourcing and IT security solutions for Australian businesses. Our experts help organisations implement best-in-class strategies to prevent, detect, and recover from cyber threats.

Contact us today to learn how we can enhance your organisation’s cyber security posture.


Reference List

  1. Australian Cyber Security Centre. (n.d.). Essential Eight Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents. Retrieved from https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/view-all-content/essential-eight
  2. Australian Signals Directorate. (n.d.). Essential Eight Maturity Model. Retrieved from https://www.cyber.gov.au/acsc/view-all-content/essential-eight-maturity-model
  3. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). (n.d.). Cybersecurity Framework. Retrieved from https://www.nist.gov/cyberframework
  4. OWASP Foundation. (n.d.). OWASP Top Ten Security Standards. Retrieved from https://owasp.org/

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Kim Pham - IT Network Security