In an increasingly digital world where new cyber threats emerge almost daily, how can security teams stay ahead of cybercriminals’ next move? The key is saying goodbye to a reactive approach, and instead, adopting a proactive security strategy. Traditional, reactive security measures that most companies use today have proven ineffective when combating advanced threats, especially those powered by AI.

As a result, companies are shifting to a proactive security approach that helps teams anticipate and mitigate potential threats before they materialize. With proactive security’s market share expected to reach $45.67 million by 2026, it’s not just another trend. Instead, it’s a proven way to save valuable time, reduce recovery costs, minimize business disruption, and increase customer trust – especially as companies undergo rapid digital transformation to protect their organization against complex cyber threats. 

To achieve a robust, proactive security strategy, CISOs should evaluate the following three pillars on their journey to bidding farewell to legacy, reactive measures once and for all: 

  • Discover: Understand what assets exist. This pillar focuses on identifying and cataloging all assets within the organization to ensure complete visibility.
  • Prioritize: Once assets are identified, teams can prioritize them based on their importance and the potential threats they face. This involves assessing risks and determining the order in which vulnerabilities should be addressed.
  • Remediate: Take action to fix vulnerabilities and reinforce security controls, ensuring that the identified and prioritized risks are effectively mitigated.

To determine if your organization is ready to implement a proactive security approach, here are four considerations CISOs should keep top of mind on their journey to a more proactive security strategy:

1. What assets do I have?

One of the biggest challenges for any organization is conquering visibility. This can be solved by creating an asset inventory. Without an asset inventory, organizations are blind to the potential internal and external exposures their assets pose. By creating this index, organizations can proceed with a solid understanding of where their assets lie, who has ownership, what their context is, and any potential weaknesses. As a result, when an identified risk corresponds to an asset, organizations can quickly and successfully delegate who is responsible for remediating the issue based on asset ownership.

2. How do I continuously monitor my assets and prioritize what I need to fix?

Once the index is created, the next step is to create a process for prioritizing remediation. In today’s complex threat landscape, a vulnerability will inevitably appear – the important thing is to understand which remediations to carry out first, in order of priority. Leaders should consider which threats are most likely to affect the assets within an attack path and which vulnerabilities are most likely to be exploited. By establishing this protocol ahead of time and understanding business priorities, teams take a proactive approach to security and help themselves down the line.

3. How do I validate my security controls?

A distinctive feature of proactive security is the continuous application and testing of security controls ahead of time to prepare for the future. Unfortunately, many organizations overlook this aspect and instead focus on expanding their toolset, even if it means sacrificing quality for quantity. Teams should instead focus on performing control validation testing to keep pace with the latest attack trends. Investing in current tools and maximizing their value proposition will be immensely more beneficial and fruitful in the long run.

4. How do I ensure my team can respond?

Preparing for proactive security behind the scenes is vitally important, but at the end of the day, teams need to be equipped with the tools and resources needed to test their security stack and accurately carry out their duties. A proactive security approach ensures that teams are tested to do just this ahead of time, improving their incident response planning time.

The cybersecurity industry is at the forefront of a major shift. Expanding attack surfaces, novel threats, increasing vendor sprawl, and the fear of false positives plague cybersecurity teams’ daily lives. Proactive security is a highly effective strategy for leaders looking to equip their teams with the tools, preparation, and support needed to succeed in these challenging times. 

By asking your CISO the right questions and understanding the ins and outs of deploying a proactive security strategy, teams will be prepared for known and unknown risks. Investing in proactive measures enhances protection and builds resilience against the evolving landscape of cybersecurity threats.