Although hacking is as old as the Internet itself, it wasn’t until last year that global companies, more so than ever, began to look into online security measures.

In fact, 2016 was the year that cybersecurity entered the list of South Africa’s CEO’s biggest worries when it came to facing the future.

Alas, no matter how much word on some of the most public attacks got around, businesses are still being held captive by a few myths that will no doubt ruin them.

When it comes to cybersecurity, an accurate understanding of each myth is important so you can correctly position yourself in the cyber world, whether you’re an individual, business, or government.

From William H. Saito, Special Advisor to the Cabinet Office for the Government of Japan, here are five cybersecurity myths that must be busted:

1. Protecting yourself is good enough

Organizations [sic] must be aware of others in their community and how they’re acting when it comes to cybersecurity questions. Some of the biggest headline-grabbing breaches of recent years involved third parties or organizations subordinate to the entity that was hacked. Everything in your ecosystem, from subcontractors to subsidiaries, vendors and accounting firms, can be a threat vector. Security is only as strong as the weakest link, and sometimes that weak link is beyond your four walls.

2. Going back to paper (or disconnecting from the internet) minimises risk

The unplugging approach can lead to many problems apart from the potential damage to efficiency and productivity. Disconnecting, implementing “air gaps” or going back to paper can actually increase vulnerabilities. One can’t know if paper copies of data have been illicitly copied or removed. Meanwhile, air-gapped and disconnected networks are harder to monitor because of less logging of data that takes place; also, due to the inconvenience, they’re not updated with security patches as often. Ironically, increasing your attack surface this way makes it easier for criminals to find the valuable information and strike unnoticed.

3. Getting hacked is an embarrassment

Many people hesitate to share their stories about getting hacked. This can be perceived as losing face, especially in Asian countries. However, it’s important to understand that everyone is vulnerable and it’s better to learn from one another by communicating. Unfortunately, there are only two types of organizations today: those that have been hacked and those that have been hacked but just don’t know it yet. Hiding a breach and letting it fester will only worsen the long-term damage.

4. Cyber security is just a form of defence

Again, this is a shortsighted view of an essential resource and way of thinking. Security needs to be positioned as a strategic advantage since it can boost efficiency and save money. Not only is security by design and by default important for protection, creating an integrated implementation will enhance usability products and services and generate a competitive advantage. At a minimum, it will allow us to take back the many benefits ICT provides, and in a safe and secure manner. Stop thinking of cybersecurity as merely a cost center and understand its value as a business enabler.

5. You’ll never get attacked or breached

This kind of thinking – that it will never happen to me – is almost a guarantee that it will. It’s equally unwise to have total confidence in the strength of one’s security and especially one’s security devices. There’s no such thing as perfect security – the key here is resilience. That’s the ability to take a hit and keep going, or in certain cases failure, to default to a protected state. You should architect security with a prevention-first mindset, and also view attacks as an opportunity to learn about vulnerabilities and grow stronger based on that knowledge.

Let me guess, you’re still going to go with the belief that it’ll never happen to you? Well, I promise you now it can happen to anyone and your company might be next, which is why you need the best espionage and cyber protection in South Africa, like NEWORDER.

These guys have been doing it for years and monitor your online presence so that if any threats come, BAM, they are there to act quickly.

Because, at the end of the day, you don’t want to leave your employees sitting with a pile of out-of-their-depth security issues to deal with while you’re on holiday.

[source:forbes]