For hackers, American small business culture represents a target-rich environment. Small businesses don’t often possess robust protocols in place to deter attackers....
Hackers are always looking for an opportunity to attack a company's devices and network. According to research, over 2,200 cyber-attacks happen daily, translating to one attack after every 39 seconds.
Whats CISA?
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is a bureau that protects critical federal and state infrastructure against cybersecurity and physical risks. Critical infrastructures are fundamental systems to the functioning of a society, including telecoms, health services, energy, and transportation. CISA is a part of the Department of Homeland Security, signed into law in 2018.
Nowadays, the technological, physical, and digital threats have evolved, and become more complex and diverse. Therefore, CISA works to mobilize a collective defense to make the cyberspace ecosystem safe and secure in the long term.
What Does the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency Do?
Any disruption, corruption, or dysfunction in public or private sector security can impact the national economy, public health, and safety. Hence, the main aim of CISA is to build the nation's capabilities to fight against cyber-attacks and build more resilient infrastructure for the future. In addition, they work with the federal government, which provides tools and assessment capabilities to protect the government networks and support other operations in partner departments and agencies.
They also deliver technical assistance to infrastructure owners nationwide. Moreover, CISA assesses emerging technologies to identify gaps and provide insights that will help determine the demand for future capabilities.
Additionally, the agency promotes government communications safety. That enables emergency response service providers to communicate safely even in case of terrorism or natural disasters, or similar events.
I noticed that in 2020, CISA accomplished some milestones in maintaining secure, resilient infrastructure for the nation. For instance, the agency helped counter misinformation that could threaten critical infrastructure during the 2020 election. They also partnered with major technology vendors and federal partners to ensure that election officials had the information needed to secure elections. In addition, during the mass move to the online environment due to Covid-19 restrictions, CISA helped webpages stakeholders address any upcoming cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
Why Is CISA Important for Your Business?
IT managers, IT systems consultants, cybersecurity professionals, IT audits, and system analysts can benefit from CISA. As an IT auditor, CISA certification will help you gain recognition both domestically and internationally. It presents you as a professional with the required knowledge, skills, and credibility to offer advice and audit solutions. Keep in mind that as the IT field grows, so does the demand for highly qualified professionals who can protect IT assets.
As an information security professional, the certification demonstrates your proven ability to help organizations maneuver through complex and ever-evolving regulations. Businesses will view you as an expert who can help them reduce the time needed to manage vulnerabilities and ensure compliance. CISA also reassures your stakeholders that you can quickly identify critical issues and develop customized practices to safeguard information and related technologies.
The IT profession is ideal for people who like to keep up with the evolving business world. Since IT systems are one of the most dynamic aspects of business, having CISA certification will help you prove to your clients that you are prepared to face future challenges.
With CISA, you also have the advantage of demanding higher salaries than other non-certified professionals. That is because the certification proves that you are highly qualified for the position.
IT keeps growing with no sign of slowing down. New software and technologies emerge each day, and so is the need for credentialed professionals. With CISA, you have an opportunity to move up the employment ladder into a senior managerial position in the future. I also realized that the CISA certification has global recognition, and it can create career opportunities in public and private companies worldwide. Note that the economy is becoming globalized. Thus, it would be best that you consider joining the global community of information systems professionals.
If we employ CISA-certified professionals in our businesses, we will enjoy protection against data breaches, regulatory compliance, and security for end-users and endpoint devices. In general, this promotes business continuity.
Conclusion
We need to be prepared that cybersecurity breaches will continue to evolve and increase in the future. Businesses, therefore, need to adopt evolving cyber defense tactics to protect themselves against such attacks. One way is by earning the CISA certification to equip you with information, knowledge, and skills to manage vulnerabilities. This way, you will improve your client's confidence in your company and gain the developers, employees, partners, and customers' trust.
