With the Cloud, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, IOT, Quantum Computing, 5G, Applications, Edge Computing etc., the frontier of technological advancement is shifting rapidly as mankind seeks better and easier ways of exploring latent potential in nature and technology to develop goods and services. However, as we benefit from extant and emerging technologies, we must be vigilant and guard against the nefarious activities of malicious actors exploiting new technology at equal measure to wreak havoc; they are succeeding.

 In a survey published in its 2023 State of Security Report, Splunk reports that 38% respondents in a survey identified increasing sophistication of cybersecurity threats as the main cause of work-related stress to them. Also, 32% sub-set of respondents attributed their difficulty in securing their systems to supply chain vulnerability.

 Enterprise end-users, who are the bread and butter of ProAV, are tightening their suppler/vendors onboarding criteria. They are leaning more towards thirdparties with demonstrable capacity to bringing real value in a collaborative effort at preventing cyberattacks and system failures, and supporting their business resillience afterwards.

 What ProAV can do? 

 We cannot give what we don’t have. Being a predominantly end-user serviced industry, AV business could demonstrate excellent customer-centricity by developing internal capacity to support end user efforts in cybersecurity resiliency, fault tolerance and performance optimization. These capabilities serve your strategic objectives and afford your business an enabling framework to support your customers manage and recover from security incidents nd system disruptions when they occur. 

 Developing Resilience

•  Resilience in cybersecurity means having the capabilities and strategies to cope with cyber incidents and to restore normal operations as soon as possible. Resilience is possible when you:
• Conduct regular risk assessments and identify potential threats and vulnerabilities.
• Implement backup and recovery solutions and test them frequently.
• Adopt a multi-layered security approach and use encryption, firewalls, antivirus software, and other tools to protect data and systems.
• Train staff on IT security policies and procedures and raise awareness of common cyber threats and how to avoid them.
• Monitor and update systems regularly and apply patches and fixes as soon as possible.
• Establish a business continuity plan and a crisis management team and communicate roles and responsibilities clearly. own systems. ability to adapt to changing conditions and to withstand and recover from adversity.

 Measuring Resilience:

 MTTR – Mean Time to Recovery or Restore measures how long it takes for a system to recover from a failure. MTTR is an indicator of how quickly a system can restore its normal functionality after a disruption, and how well it can minimize the impact of failures on its users and customers.

 MTTD is the average time it takes for a system or an organization to detect that an adverse event has occurred, from the moment it started to the moment it was noticed. MTTD is an important metric because it indicates how quickly a system, or an organization can identify a problem and initiate a response.

Time to positioning your AV business as a reliable and competent resilience support base for your customers would prove to be one of the most strategic and rewarding business decisions you make. 

Remain customer-centric.