How to Get Ready to Fight Cyberwarfare Under Global Tension.

Geopolitical wars in the world are no longer being fought on the usual battlefields. The new front lines are now into the digital world, making cyberspace a new battlefield of the state-sponsored and state--aligned. What used to be regarded as the territory of nation-states has become a burning issue of concern in all businesses irrespective of size and sector. Cyberwarfare is no

t only government spying, but introduces a high probability of the so-called spillover effects that may cause damage to important infrastructure, cripple economies and even affect nongovernmental organizations that have nothing to do with the combat between two states. It is a guide that will outline the core actions that your organization can take to prepare against these increasing threats and develop the necessary resilience to cyberwarfare.

A Corporate Resilience Framework to Cyberwarfare.

Knowing the New Digital Frontline of Cyberwarfare.

You have to come to the first place to acknowledge that your organization is a possible target or collateral damage of geopolitical conflict. This entails going beyond the simple risk measurement and incorporating the potential of a hybrid warfare, where the physical and cyber attacks are intertwined, and the likelihood of spillover effects of the attacks by country states (such as the example of NotPetya). Assess your assets and relationships to both critical sectors (finance, energy, government) and geopolitical hot zones as a way of comprehensively understanding your threat model of cyberwarfare.

Bring Cybersecurity to the Boardroom.

Cybersecurity is not an IT issue anymore but one of the basic business risks. Your board and executive leadership should be at work. This drill involves scheduling and carrying out tabletop exercises that mimic the situation of cyberwarfare to test decision-making under a time of great need. Besides, get proper disconnection plans- strategies that outline how easily and safely your most important systems may be isolated or shut down in case of an imminent threat being detected.

Strengthen Your Back-office Security.

Preparation begins with simple things, when it comes to the basic, though carried out with extreme discipline. Implement Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) on all accounts and services to fight credential theft which is the main gate used by state actors. Intense patch management to address the identified vulnerabilities. Otherwise, against the attacks of destructive wiper malware, which is a fundamental tool of cyberwarfare, be sure to isolate your backup and recovery systems and make them immutable and tested regularly to ensure quick recovery.

Take on a Zero Trust and High-Vigilance Posture.

You should assume breach during a period when there is an escalation of tension in the world. Embrace a Zero Trust architecture that will take the principle of never trust, always verify to all users and devices that will access your network. More importantly, your security teams need to reduce the intrusion detection thresholds meaning that they should treat what would otherwise be viewed as a false positive as a real menace. This dynamic strategy is largely based on real-time threat intelligence on existing geopolitical targets and cyberwarfare strategies.

Ensure Security of Supply Chain Ecosystem.

In as much as the new bill in the UK focused on the supply chain, you need to understand that your partners can be your weakest link. Attackers sponsored by the state often attack smaller, poorly-guarded suppliers to have a bigger target. You need to carry out more thorough vendor risk analyses of any supplier of your critical systems, particularly one which supplies in or around conflict zones. The process of collaboration and sharing of threat intelligence with your partners and other relevant government agencies are now a part and parcel of your defense mechanism to cyberwarfare.

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