Maximize Your Cyber Spend: Smart Year-End Cybersecurity Investment Strategies

This year is winding down and a lot of cybersecurity budgets still contain leftover cash since most of it usually goes something like this: "use it or lose it". So, as a practical matter, the biggest piece of advice I can give is to invest that money in ways that improve your overall security posture, rather than wasting that money on random new tools that you most likely won't find very useful at all.

Let's chat as friends and figure out ways to get every last rupee (or dollar) out of our cybersecurity spend. Don't worry; it will be fun!

Look For Real Security Improvements​

In addition to looking for tools and solutions that will actually make your organization safer, many companies make the mistake of simply going out and buying more software at the end of the year without taking a close look at their current security weaknesses. Instead, it is advisable to focus the remaining funds on actual security improvements rather than buying new tools.

A few things to consider investing in with the remaining budget include:

• Attack-surface assessment — A qualified expert will thoroughly evaluate every single component of your internet presence and provide you with a prioritized list of critical areas requiring immediate attention and improvement.

• Incident-response training — When cyberattacks occur, teams must respond appropriately to minimize disruption to operations and company reputation. By conducting incident-response training, your organization will greatly reduce the chances of an injury occurring during a time when many people are in a state of panic.

• Purple team testing — Teams of security experts will conduct tests to determine how well you are able to identify and stop real attacks, including identifying system vulnerabilities and weaknesses.

These options will deliver quantifiable results and assist in identifying the issues that need fixing. I admire this strategy because I have witnessed a lot of businesses purchasing tools but never taking the time to properly implement them into their business operations.

Stop Illumating Money on Unused Tools​

Numerous businesses are spending money on two or more tools that are doing the same job; thus, duplicate tools result in wasted dollars.

At the end of the calendar year, you can:

• Assess what tools you've never utilized (e.g., for six months or longer).
• Get rid of duplicate or useless software products.
• Inquire with software vendors if they will be providing any discounts; vendors are generally more willing to provide year-end discount offers than at other times.

You will save the money you saved and invest in something useful for your business, e.g., improving your security training or hiring additional employees.

Create Strength Backup Plans​

There are many minimal-cost year-end investments but are exceptionally valuable when the time comes to respond to a business hiccup. Examples include the following:

Incident-response retainer: Companies can get rapid assistance from a cyber-security expert if the company is a victim of a hacker.

Additional cloud capacity: If there are surges in Web traffic or DDoS attacks against your company you have an option to store data on cloud servers.

Emergency licenses: You have the option to get additional licenses for your organization really quickly should the need arise.

All of the above investments can be viewed as a safety net – you might hope that you never need them but if problems develop, you will be extremely happy you made the investments.

Document every detail of what you received in the current budget year to support your request for next year's budget increase.

Record the following information:

(1) How much money you spent
(2) Why you chose to spend that money, and
(3) What improvements resulted from that spend.

Conclusion​

Budgeting well at the end of the year is not about trying to reach a target of spending all your dollars quickly but rather to spend wisely on things that make your organization's overall security better and, at the same time, do not focus exclusively on having "cool" technology tools.