What is Non-Perfect Cybersecurity?
Non-perfect cybersecurity is the realistic and practical approach to securing any digital environment, acknowledging that perfect cybersecurity is unobtainable.
While cybersecurity experts will always strive for perfection in a constantly evolving digital landscape, non-perfect cybersecurity accepts the inevitability of vulnerabilities, human error, and evolving threats.
In non-perfect cybersecurity, the emphasis is less on eliminating all vulnerabilities than managing and mitigating the most severe ones.
Perfect Cybersecurity and the Challenges of Achieving It
Most cybersecurity experts consider perfect cybersecurity—the notion that digital environments can be completely immune to attacks—wildly unobtainable. Here are several reasons why:
Evolving Threats
As cybersecurity techniques advance and digital environments become more secure, cybercriminals adapt and develop new methods of exploiting vulnerabilities. From zero-day exploits, which we will cover shortly, to ransomware and advanced persistent threats (APTs), even the most secure systems must remain vigilant.
Human Error
Human behaviour is easily the most unpredictable aspect of cybersecurity. Even the most robust and seemingly impenetrable digital environment can be compromised by simple mistakes such as weak passwords and phishing scams. While training and cybersecurity protocols can help to mitigate these risks, they can never be eliminated.
Zero-Day Vulnerabilities
Zero-day vulnerabilities are unknown to the software vendor or security community when an attacker discovers them. Since patching them can be challenging, cybersecurity teams are under immense pressure to address the issue and mitigate damage in a zero-day response.
Insider Threats
Not all cyber threats come from external hackers. Insiders, whether malicious or negligent, can be equally as damaging—especially disgruntled employees or former employees whose access hasn’t been entirely revoked. These insiders may intentionally or accidentally leak data, bypass security controls, or create vulnerabilities for external hackers to exploit.
Limited Resources
The quest for perfect cybersecurity is exceptionally resource-intensive, and many organisations lack the financial, technical and/or human resources to achieve it. Additionally, those who have the resources can struggle to prioritise cybersecurity alongside other business needs. This is why cost and time-benefit analysis is so important in non-perfect cybersecurity.
Usability vs. Security
Finally, perfect security often comes at the cost of usability. Systems that are locked down too tight can impede productivity or damage user experience, leading employees to find loopholes or use shadow IT that bypasses security protocols. These loopholes can often be more damaging than the vulnerabilities these protocols were designed to patch.
Check out our remote access case study to see how loopholes and shadow IT can create critical vulnerabilities within even the most secure digital environments.
Cost & Time-Benefit Analysis
The cost and time-benefit analysis of cybersecurity revolves around balancing the resource investment in security measures and improvement with the practical protection they offer, acknowledging that perfect security is unobtainable.
When a third-party penetration testing service provider reports their findings, they will grade the vulnerabilities—often using a vulnerability grading system like the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
Using this grading, organisations can make informed decisions regarding which vulnerabilities need to be patched immediately and which vulnerabilities are negligible and can be ignored for the time being.
Then, they can allocate the necessary resources to fixing the critical vulnerabilities whilst avoiding wasting resources on less-critical vulnerabilities.
It is also important to remember that risk tolerance plays a major role. Companies or individuals with a higher risk tolerance are likely to allocate resources to only the most critical vulnerabilities, deeming the rest to be a waste of resources.
Strategies for Managing Non-Perfect Security
Now that we’ve accepted that perfect cybersecurity is unobtainable, we must consider how to manage our non-perfect cybersecurity to minimise risk and potential damage.
Defence-in-Depth
Defence-in-depth is a layered approach to cybersecurity. It is essentially the cybersecurity equivalent of not putting all of your eggs in one basket. So, instead of relying on one layer of security to deter attackers, we create multiple layers to ensure that even if one layer is breached, others remain intact.
These layers can come in many forms, but some of the more common ones are firewalls, VPNs, and encryption.
To learn more about how defence-in-depth can minimise risk, check out our non-perfect cybersecurity case study.
Chain Breaking
Chain breaking refers to disrupting the steps that attackers follow during a cyberattack. By outlining the phases of attack, from reconnaissance to data exfiltration, cybersecurity teams can look to break the chain at any point and stop the cyberattack.
From early detection protocols, where cybersecurity teams identify suspicious activity and attempt to mitigate the threat, to incident response protocols focusing on containing and eliminating threats before they escalate.
Chain breaking is a vital tool in any organisation’s handbook and can be tested through black-box testing or red teaming.
Internal Defence (Zero Trust)
Focusing solely on external defences like firewalls is insufficient in modern cybersecurity. Whether it’s defending against insider threats or against external threats that have bypassed the external defences, internal defence should never be ignored.
There are several ways to improve internal defences. One approach is to implement a Zero-Trust Architecture (ZTA) that assumes that no one, inside or outside, can be trusted.
Key elements of a ZTA include granting users the minimum level of access required to perform their jobs, micro-segmenting networks into small, isolated segments to prevent attackers from moving laterally across systems, and continuous verification, which requires users to be continuously authenticated and authorised.
To understand more about the importance of securing both your external and internal network infrastructure, check out our comprehensive guide.
Continuous Monitoring
Cyber threats evolve rapidly, so a static security posture is not enough. Continuously monitoring your cybersecurity can provide up-to-date feedback on how well it is performing and what known vulnerabilities are present.
While there are many approaches to continuous monitoring, here are some of the most common options.
Penetration Testing
A security assessment in which simulated attacks are performed on a system to identify vulnerabilities and security flaws. It is often referred to as ethical hacking. Penetration tests can be expensive, so at the very least, all companies should aim to carry out annual pentests.
Vulnerability Scanning
Automated scanning of systems and networks to identify known vulnerabilities. It is often used as a preliminary step in the vulnerability management process. Note: a common misconception regarding automated scanning is that it can replace the need to perform manual penetration tests. This is not true. To understand the differences between automated and manual penetration testing, check out our guide.
Proactive Patch Management
Regularly updating software and systems to eliminate known vulnerabilities. This continuous improvement makes it significantly harder for attackers to gain unauthorised access.
User Education and Awareness
While human error is the most unpredictable aspect of cybersecurity, training and awareness can help reduce the risk of human error-related vulnerabilities.
This can be done by providing employees with ongoing cybersecurity training tailored to their role within the organisation, simulating phishing attacks to test employee awareness and responsiveness to cybersecurity threats, and developing clear reporting procedures that streamline how suspicious activities are reported.
User education and awareness is also one of the most cost-effective ways of strengthening your overall security posture.
Conclusion
In the complex and evolving world of cybersecurity, perfect security is a nice idea but, ultimately, an unrealistic one. Cyber threats constantly adapt, human error is inevitable, and the interconnectedness of modern digital environments makes perfect cybersecurity impossible to achieve.
Instead, organisations must focus on managing non-perfect cybersecurity through strategies like defence-in-depth, continuous monitoring and employee training. By accepting that breaches may occur and prioritising rapid response and risk management, companies can put themselves in a far better position to deal with cyberattacks.
To see the strategies outlined above in action, check out our remote access and non-perfect cybersecurity case studies.