Cybersecurity Awareness Month: The Top 5 Questions Our Customers Ask Us

With Cybersecurity Awareness Month almost over, team members of all types are knee deep in a vast array of webinars, whitepapers, blog posts and events to choose from. Over the last 18 years, October activities have become a double-edged sword of outstanding cybersecurity content available in nearly overwhelming amounts. Add a little bit of creative marketing to this equation and it can be difficult to understand where valuable information actually exists.

Some of the greatest challenges faced are among those professionals looking for innovative, new and effective ways to address ever-increasing cybersecurity threats. With this in mind, Cynerio has collated a list of five questions frequently asked by our customers that should be asked about every new cybersecurity product, approach or technology you encounter.

1. How does this reduce risk?

Cybersecurity professionals all have the same ultimate goal - reducing risk. Sometimes risk reduction is elegant and simple, while other times it requires exhaustive effort combined with digital duct tape. Regardless, when learning about a new practice, product or approach the ultimate goal should always be considered - how does this reduce risk?

2. How practical is this?

While reducing risk is the core goal of any activities, doing so in a practical way is often the next consideration discussed. Brilliant technologies often stumble when met with practical considerations. Whether they’re too expensive, resource-intensive, time-consuming, difficult to understand, or any variety of other challenges, effectiveness and practicality must be considered hand-in-hand. Make sure to ask about implementation timelines, long-term maintenance, additional staff efforts, and of course, price.‍

‍3. Why haven’t more organizations adopted this?

Our industry is awash with intelligent, motivated and efficient individuals who will quickly assess and adopt an effective new technology. It’s also natural to approach anything new with a bit of skepticism, so identify colleagues and peers that are early adopters and seek their guidance. Throughout your learning process make sure to ask both peers and vendors about real-life use cases, successes and failures, competitors and challenges. An effective technology that is rapidly growing will have champions that can not only paint a good picture, but also provide ample evidence to back it up.‍

4. What gaps won’t this cover?

With an estimated 3,500 cybersecurity vendors in the US alone, it’s safe to say that there are no silver bullets. Understanding where an approach excels, where it stops, and where it will potentially grow in the future is critical in the learning process. While gray areas are inevitable with newer technologies, acknowledging clear boundaries, planned roadmaps, and complimentary or adjacent approaches demonstrate a solid grasp of the product space.‍

5. How does it work?

Professional courtesy often leads to the assumption of execution. Work to understand the details of how a product works, why this approach hasn’t been previously adopted, the challenges of the approach, and how growth will result in improvements. Clear explanations, effective demos, and productive Q&A sessions can all help validate viability. Naturally with new technologies a bug or challenge is going to arise. Use this as an opportunity to learn how these situations are addressed and prevented - you’ll often find this provides insight into mature and productive development practices.

We want to hear from you! These questions are among the most discussed by the Cynerio team with our customers and prospects, but they’re far from a complete list. We want to hear the questions you use to explore and validate new technologies. Comment below or tweet your most effective questions to use at @cynerio.
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Want to learn more about Cynerio and how we help reduce risk from connected devices within hospitals? Reach out to us at https://www.cynerio.com/contact-us or info@cynerio.com.