If you are doing business online, we assume that cybersecurity is not an alienated concept to you.
Key Performance Indicators or KPIs is simply cybersecurity risk assessment where you judge your website security management program’s effectiveness over certain metrics and parameters.
But before we delve any further, let us tell you why tracking your KPIs is important.
Importance of Tracking Cybersecurity KPIs
Every business wants to ensure that they are investing money wisely. From investors to the board of directors, everybody wants to know how secure their current security systems are.
By tracking your Key Performance Indicators and Key Risk Indicators, you come to know about the exact situation of your website security. As a result, you can upgrade it by eliminating loopholes and vulnerabilities.
KPI also helps you access your internal security to understand how factors like multi-factor authentication and limiting employee access are helping your internal functions stay out of harm’s way.
On that note, here are 8 KPIs that you need to track on your website:
#1 Incident Reporting
Businesses keep on facing profit and loss situations every time. But do all of them keep the right record for the same? Maybe not.
But small incidents can have a huge impact on your business. Even a small bug detected by your security system should be reported and recorded so that actions can be taken to mitigate them.
Convincing the board of directors to invest in more robust cybersecurity protocols can be challenging. Still, if you show these reported incidents of data breach attempts, they can open their mind to your argument.
Tools like Glances can be of great help here. They can monitor your system for such attacks and report them.
#2 Preparedness Level
You may have reported many incidents, but what is your level of preparedness against cyberattacks?
Are your systems and devices well-patched and updated to the latest software? Do you have any fixed days when your focus is on upgrading your software and monitoring its working?
The good news is that you do not need to buy any fancy tools to be prepared for the worst simply. You must ensure that all your software is updated and patched so that hackers do not get a straight entry into your website.
Checking your readiness is essential to take measures to mitigate them.
#3 Security Protocols
After checking your readiness, it is time to ensure that your network connection is safe. And there is none better than a Secure Sockets Layer or SSL certificate to help you keep your connection safe.
SSL uses encryption technology to ensure that the connection between your website and your user is done privately over a secure network.
If you are just starting out and do not have a lot to lose, then a domain validation SSL would be enough to keep your user and website data safe from cybercriminals.
SSL is a key indicator of how securely clients can connect with you through your website.
#4 Cost of Breach
The cost of data breaches can be much higher than we anticipate. At the time of reviving your data and mitigating the attack, you try to employ all possible measures that can help you save your website and data.
Therefore, cost should be assessed per incident and pinpoint unnecessary spending. Often, out of desperation, we tend to spend more than what is needed.
So, the cost is another major cybersecurity KPI to track that determines your overall expenses. By tracking them, you can take the necessary actions to reduce your expenses.
5. Time Taken to resolve an issue
A business can ill-afford to lose time. There is a lot it can lose by compromising on time over money. Therefore, it is imperative to know how much time are you spending and where.
For example, you may not need your entire IT department to fix a minor bug. In doing so, you compromise on your team’s productivity and, of course, time.
If you keep track of your time, it will be easy to find flaws in your current approach. As a result of tracking, you can find more productive and less time-consuming ways to approach an issue.
#6 Repercussions of Downtime
Downtime losses are key cybersecurity KPIs because they give you the exact idea of how much you will lose in just a few hours of absence from the internet.
To track downtime repercussions, you can check with your hosting provider asking them for details on data and traffic. Also, you can check server logs to determine the same.
By analyzing traffic, you get to know the people trying to reach your website and contact you.
Also, it will motivate you to take concrete steps and will never let your website go down ever again.
#7 Compliance with Rules
You can be termed a legit website by authorities like Google and the Payment Card Industry only when you comply with the necessary guidelines.
PCI asks eCommerce websites to comply with their guidelines to accept payments online. For example, you must have an SSL certificate to comply with their terms fully.
Some state guidelines need to be followed to ensure customer and employee safety. As a responsible website owner, you must adhere to all such compliances to venture online safely.
8. Measuring Customer Impact
Last but not the least, measuring how your customers got impacted by a cyberattack is essential to know the magnitude of attacks you can face in the future.
Since customer data is always a top priority, website owners need to be practical about the measurement.
It also helps you test the waters of your security as to how it will be secure if things go south.
Ready to Track Your Website Cybersecurity KPIs?
Now that you know the essential KPIs to track, you can always run your website through them regularly.
You can develop personalized strategies to counter attacks based on these KPIs. These metrics help you prepare for an unforeseen event. At the same time, they also open up the cybersecurity reality in front of you.
So, use these metrics and create feasible business solutions that can help you mitigate the current cybersecurity threats.
You may also want to learn more about the 69 best WordPress security plugins for your site.
