In the same way that biological systems acquire immunity towards diseases, cyber/IT  systems should adapt to ever changing cyber threats. Here comes the importance of cyber resilience.

Cyber resilience is the ability of an entity to continuously deliver the intended outcome despite adverse cyber events.(“Cyber Resilience – Fundamentals for a Definition”. Stockholm University.)

There isn’t a standard cyber resilience definition—but you can think of it as your organization’s ability to withstand or quickly recover from cyber events that disrupt usual business operations.

What is it ?

In Cyber Resilience we change our perception from just prevention to acceptance that we cannot prevent all negative events / threats, and we focus on how to strengthen our PPT (People, Process & Technology) to able to adjust, analyse and re-bounce through an ongoing threat. Even then, you may not prevent or recover from 100% situations, the goal is to find a balance between prevention and adaptability.

Why is cyber resilience “Important” ?

The preventive approach towards cyber incidents like prevention, detection, mitigation etc are no longer sufficient because these measures can slow them but not stop them. The threat landscape is increasing every day and having a preventive / defensive system isnt 100% achievable.  We need to shift our focus towards what could be done to survive a threat, an approach towards resilience strengthening 3 core areas – People, Process & Technology.