What to Consider When Hiring an Internal Cybersecurity Team
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, the time of year when businesses around the country participate in relevant activities to promote safer online practices. With Cyber attacks becoming more rampant, there is an increase in demand to hire cybersecurity professionals and teams in virtually every industry, arguably more in tech.
Now more than ever, businesses need an internal defense shield to protect company data as well as employee privacy from malicious hackers. Also, they need to put in systems to comply with strict data security and privacy mandates.
Hiring an internal cybersecurity team is essential to push digital transformation efforts to build an automated, cloud-based workplace that can support remote teams.
Do you really need an internal cybersecurity team?
Rampant cybercrime has forced businesses to keep their systems secure, well-patched, and free from vulnerabilities. Moreover, stakeholder expectation to swiftly respond to and recover from cyber attacks, and security incidents, makes a good case for having a team in place to deal with and prevent catastrophes.
An internal cybersecurity team can effectively respond to threats stemming from spyware, malware, ransomware, and phishing.
A cybersecurity team can help your business to:
- Protect all company data, especially sensitive data, by proactively creating defense strategies and placing shields against intruders/attackers
- Collaborate with other teams to come up with proactive, reactive, and defensive strategies and systems to battle cyberattacks
- Work with administration and HR to train and educate employees against cyberattacks, phishing, and data breach
- Be in touch with current and fast-evolving cybercrime tactics and implement defensive strategies against them
- Monitor day-to-day business handling, report unusual activities and incidents
- Maintain standard security guidelines, procedures, and internal documentation related to security and data protection
Encouraging signs to look for in a great Cybersecurity team
Now that we’ve established the importance of an internal cybersecurity team, you might find yourself asking the natural follow-up question- What makes for a good cybersecurity hire?
What kind of experts and employees do you need to cover all your IT security bases? How do you differentiate a good cybersecurity expert from a great one? What are the positive signs or green flags to consider when hiring cybersecurity professionals??
Here’s what you must look for when hiring your cybersecurity team:
1.Keen to drive proactive and reactive strategies
A team of cybersecurity specialists should not only know how to identify, prevent, and mitigate risks in real-time, they should be proactive enough to stay abreast of any new threats.
A key aspect of their functionality should include researching new and evolving cybercrime tactics and preparing mitigation strategies for the same.
2. Should be adept at cross functioning
Your Cybersecurity team and internal specialists need to have great cross-functioning and multi-tasking skills. Such skills will enable them to work in several functions and on several projects at the same time. Thus a good cybersecurity expert should have experience in juggling multiple tasks and functions.
3. Strong Communication and Soft Skills
Cybersecurity professionals must be well-versed in soft skills and have empathy to handle employee complaints and loss of personal data. Your team would drive educational projects for employee benefit and communicate with professionals exposed to hackers. Hence they should have a great communicative strategy to speak to fellow employees and colleagues.
4. Have previous experience in designing and driving attacks safely
Although cybersecurity is more about being preventative and proactive, you should look for someone with experience in managing reactive and defensive situations. As cybersecurity experts, your team should be able to deflect cyberattacks without major damage to the company or business if such a situation arises.
5. Eye for detail and the ability to quickly react in a fast-paced situation
Cyberattacks, be they of any kind, require real-life problem-solving skills and quick decision-making ability. A good team should have a solid understanding of how these attacks work and have enough systems in place to respond to said attacks.
Additionally, your team should be meticulous in their approach, have an eye for detail, and know how to communicate the situation with stakeholders and execute the defense flawlessly.
Summary
Cybersecurity is an essential aspect of everyday business, and excellent cybersecurity teams can ensure the smooth running of an organization. Thus, it is important to be diligent in your hiring process when recruiting cybersecurity professionals
If you’re looking to hire a great cybersecurity team without going through the rigors of searching for the right candidates and conducting endless tests, consider Turing.
The intelligent talent cloud at Turing can help you source, vet, and hire cybersecurity experts from around the globe in a matter of days. Check out Turing’s Hire page for more information on teams and Turing’s rigorous vetting and shortlisting process.
