Cyber Resiliency: A Practical Approach for Organizations of Every Size
- derekdodds
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Cyber resiliency is your organization’s ability to anticipate, withstand, and recover from a cyber security event, such as ransomware, a cloud misconfiguration, or a vendor breach. We often perceive cyber resiliency as just about preventing attacks, it’s about ensuring the business can keep running and restore operations fast when an incident happens. That’s why resiliency belongs on the agenda of every organization, from a 20-person professional services firm to a national enterprise.
Why cyber resiliency matters
Downtime. Short outages can halt sales, payroll, delivery of care, or field services. Resiliency prioritizes continuity, enabling critical services to keep running and customers aren’t left waiting. NIST frames resiliency outcomes to apply to any organization, regardless of size or sector.
Attackers don’t size you up, they automate. Ransomware crews and credential‑stuffing bots target exposed services and reused passwords at scale. Resiliency reduces “blast radius” when (not if) something is compromised.
Regulatory and customer expectations. Canadian businesses handling personal information have mandatory breach reporting duties under PIPEDA, while Alberta and British Columbia organizations face additional obligations under their respective provincial privacy laws (PIPA). All these frameworks expect you to maintain appropriate safeguards and have a documented response plan ready to act quickly when an incident occurs.
Talent constraints are real. The global shortage of cybersecurity professionals makes it hard for SMBs to hire all the skills in‑house, another reason to build a right‑sized, framework‑based resiliency program and leverage fractional leadership like a vCISO. The World Economic Forum notes a workforce gap approaching 4 million worldwide.
What cyber resiliency includes
Think of resiliency as a layered capability that encompasses people, process, and technology:
Govern & prioritize: Set risk appetite, assign ownership, and tie security outcomes to business objectives.
Prevent & withstand: Identity foundational controls. MFA, least privilege, secure configuration, segmentation, and hardening reduce the chance a single error becomes a crisis.
Detect & respond: Centralized logging, endpoint detection/response (EDR), and tested incident runbooks shorten attacker “time on target.”
Recover & adapt: Immutable, offline‑capable backups, practiced restoration, and post‑incident learning close the loop, so you come back online faster.
How to get started: a right‑sized roadmap
You don’t need a large budget to build resilience. Start small, move fast, and iterate.
Establish governance in one meeting
Appoint an executive owner CFO/COO/CIO/CTO, etc, and a security lead.
Decide risk priorities (e.g., “Our website cannot be down more than 30 minutes. Capture RTO/RPO targets for critical systems.
Select a framework: NIST CSF 2.0, CAN/DGSI 104, IOS 27001, BC Defensible Security, etc.
Baseline assessment (2–3 workshops)
Inventory assets: software, data, service providers, and accounts to document what you have.
The CIS Critical Security Controls worksheets make this easier.
Quick wins that move the needle (first 30–60 days)
Identity & access: Make sure MFA is enabled for all users, enforce least privilege, and remove stale admin accounts.
Configuration & patching: Standardize baselines, enable automatic patching where feasible.
Backups: Implement the 3‑2‑1 approach with at least one immutable/offline copy, test restoring on a regular basis.
Email & web protections: Harden email (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), sandbox attachments/URLs, and block macros from the internet.
Awareness: Brief staff on reporting suspicious activity, simulate phishing to measure and improve. Be engaging and facilitate discussions / Interest.
Incident response you can actually use (next 60–90 days)
Create a short concise Incident Response plan: roles, decision thresholds, communication templates, legal/regulator contacts, and an hour‑by‑hour checklist.
Run a tabletop exercise (ransomware or vendor compromise). CISA has lots of great playbooks and templates you can leverage.
Business continuity alignment (quarterly)
Map business services > processes > apps > infrastructure so you know what to restore first.
Validate that DR procedures meet your RTO/RPO targets; practice failover/fallback and data restoration.
Close gaps and document lessons learned.
Compliance guardrails for Canadian organizations
Build breach response steps that satisfy PIPEDA (federal) and provincial requirements under Alberta’s and British Columbia’s PIPA. Ensure you understand your obligations for reporting cyber security incidents and build them into your IR plan.
Where a vCISO fits and why it accelerates outcomes
If you don’t have the resources in‑house, a virtual CISO (vCISO) is a flexible way to add senior security leadership without adding headcount. The vCISO’s role is to complement your IT team and ensure your cyber resiliency strategy aligns with business strategy:
Translate risk to ROI: Tie security investments to uptime, revenue protection, and regulatory obligations (PIPEDA/PIPA).
Framework mapping & road‑mapping: Align current state to NIST CSF 2.0 outcomes and CIS safeguards, producing a 12 to 18 month plan.
Policy & control enablement: Right‑size policies and controls (often borrowing from ISO/IEC 27001:2022 if you need external assurance).
Exercises & metrics: Run tabletops, set KPIs (MTTD/MTTR, restore success), and brief leadership/board quarterly.
Talent multiplier: Close the execution gap caused by the cyber skills shortage, without overextending your team.
Right-Sizing Cyber Resilience
Cyber resiliency isn’t beyond the reach of resource-constrained teams, in fact, it matters most where capacity is limited. NIST CSF 2.0 scales effectively to organizations of any size, while CIS Controls IG1 and CAN/DGSI 104 are purposely designed for small and medium-sized businesses. You don’t need to implement everything at once, start with basic hygiene and continuity, then expand your protections in line with actual risk.
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