What Is Cybersecurity Monitoring & Why Do You Need It?

Cybersecurity monitoring permits organizations to detect and respond swiftly to potential web and email security threats before they compromise your system. Mitigating the impact of these malicious emails and attacks is essential to keeping your employees, clients, and businesses safe. Continuous monitoring programs can help ensure compliance with industry standards like PCI DSS or HIPPA while allowing you to run penetration tests that can help identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities before exploitation. Such behaviors can help maintain a company's reputation, integrity, and confidence.

This article will review cybersecurity monitoring, its value to businesses, a few challenges with the technologies, a few steps for effective cybersecurity monitoring, and the solution Guardian Digital offers users as an expert, ongoing email security software.

What is Cybersecurity Monitoring?

Cybersecurity monitoring continuously observes an organization's computer systems, networks, and digital assets to detect, identify, and respond quickly to potential threat types. This service can track and log unauthorized access attempts and malware infections that could put a business at risk of facing email security breaches that can cause data loss, reputational damage, and significant downtime.

Why Is Cybersecurity Monitoring Critically Valuable to Businesses?

Monitoring can keep an organization's operations, finances, and data safe through various cybersecurity tools, antivirus software, and malware URL scanners that can help servers detect and quarantine emails that appear to be phishing campaigns or other threat types. Cybersecurity monitoring puts all of these instruments together so you have data collection and analysis, advanced threat protection, incident response planning, penetration testing, scan email for viruses, malware sandboxing, and more in one place. Cybersecurity and phishing email attacks threaten businesses daily, so companies must make their servers more complex and secure to keep everyone safe. Here are the benefits of incorporating cybersecurity monitoring:

• Minimize data and email security breaches by identifying suspicious behavior before an attack. 
• Employ security patching with a monitoring service to notify you of cybersecurity vulnerabilities and issues in your security controls.
• Learn where attacks originate, their frequency, and how to implement malware protection against a threat to respond faster to attacks.
• Mitigate web and email security vulnerabilities by addressing and fixing the risks before exploitation occurs.
• Understand attack behavioral patterns so you can install email protection software that can keep your clients and employees secure.
• Ensure you comply with HIPAA and PCI DSS standards and regulations to address issues before they become too late.
• Reduce your chances of significant downtime by minimizing your opportunity to face trending web and email security issues that could disrupt business operations.
• Improve employee productivity with frequent monitoring to keep attacks from interfering with tasks and assignments through system crashes and server overloads.

These advantages to cybersecurity monitoring are precious to organizations that want to keep their information at risk during daily operations.

How Can I Implement Effective Cybersecurity Monitoring?

Once you decide to make cybersecurity monitoring a part of your web and email security strategy, you will need to know the best ways to configure your system to reduce your risk of facing breaches and other cybersecurity incidents. Here are a few of our suggestions to users:

• Install SIEM Tools & Software Solutions: These cybersecurity tools can collect and analyze security event data from various sources to detect and respond to real-time security incidents. By using advanced analytics and Machine Learning algorithms, SIEM solutions can identify behavior patterns and discover anomalies that may indicate a web and email security threat. SIEM can also help businesses comply with regulatory requirements by providing centralized logging and reporting capabilities.
• Experience Assistance from Trained Experts: Cybersecurity professionals have the email security training and understanding needed to understand emerging risks, analyze security data, and identify weaknesses in a system. They help develop email protection policies based on the tools and technologies your company needs to minimize the impact of a breach. 
• Focus on Training Employees: Companies can benefit significantly by providing regular cybersecurity awareness programs, which educate their employees on the latest cybersecurity threats and how best to identify and respond. Trained employees can detect suspicious activity, such as phishing emails or attempted access attempts, and report it immediately - helping prevent security incidents before they happen. They also help organizations enforce security policies and procedures, such as password management and data handling, that decrease human error that could cause security breaches.
• Utilize Managed Service Providers (MSPs): MSPs provide companies access to specialized expertise and resources that are more affordable than the web and email security technologies that larger organizations offer users. MSPs also monitor and support your server 24/7 to detect and mitigate security incidents immediately and keep your security posture strong.

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What Common Cybersecurity Monitoring Challenges Exist?

Businesses face more pressure to implement effective strategies safeguarding sensitive data and infrastructure through cybersecurity tools and monitoring. Therefore, companies must do what they can to overcome obstacles and strengthen their web and email security solutions. However, there are setbacks to cybersecurity monitoring, such as the following:

• Organizations must agree on what aspects of their data and information are considered critical assets so cybersecurity professionals can focus on protecting those entities first. However, as businesses grow and evolve, there can be more disagreements regarding the value of one asset over another, and reaching a consensus could take time and effort.
• Laptops and desktops are endpoints and targets for cybercrime. With modern-day digital environments containing more endpoints than ever, organizations must help maintain control over every device. Businesses must balance security with employee privacy by detecting threats with malware URL scanners while respecting staff who might be uncomfortable with excessive monitoring.
• Small- or Medium-Sized Businesses (SMBs) may not be able to afford higher-end, more comprehensive cybersecurity tools because they have a tighter budget. As a result, SMBs choose to implement inexpensive solutions that do not offer the malware protection and general functionality that companies need, and the data collection and analysis might run in more confusing programs.
• Cheaper, less effective cybersecurity monitoring only sometimes has updating capabilities so you can stay on top of the newest cybersecurity tools and email security technologies that can combat any threat that crosses your server. Therefore, while you might think you are safe, you are back at square one if a new issue arises.

How Can Guardian Digital Help?

SMBs must make the most of limited cybersecurity resources, which can put significant pressure on security professionals if SMBs even have an IT team. Therefore, SMBs must have an affordable web and email security solution to cybersecurity monitoring that is just as effective as more expensive options.

Over ninety percent of modern cyberattacks begin with an email, so monitoring your email infrastructure for suspicious activity and potential threats is critical. Prevent phishing email attacks and breaches with Guardian Digital EnGarde Cloud Email Security software. EnGarde has expert, ongoing cybersecurity monitoring with our security professionals who prioritize your email security policies, identify and protect potential targets in your companies, perform virus scanning, and improve general operations so your company’s productivity and Return on Investment stay strong.

Keep Learning About Cybersecurity Monitoring

Effective cybersecurity requires organizations to evaluate network and endpoint activity to detect email security threats quickly and effectively. Balance safety with employee privacy by installing the cybersecurity tools you need that cybersecurity experts can implement through their managed services. Keep your monitoring strategy effective, updated, and robust to minimize risk, safeguard your server, and maintain stakeholder confidence.

• Outsource email security effectively with EnGarde.
• Choose an exemplary email protection service for your organization.
• Improve cybersecurity posture by engaging in best practices for email security.
• Get the latest updates on how to stay safe online with our Behind the Shield newsletter.