Startup Growth Is Not an Excuse for Weak Security

Launching a startup is a complex endeavor that leaves little room for mistakes. Some, like neglecting market validation or customer feedback, are self-evident. Others snowball into structural issues that are much harder to fix once the startup gains momentum. Poor or non-existent cybersecurity is a perfect example of the latter.

Why do startups brush cybersecurity aside so frequently, especially during the early growth stages? What are the consequences, and what can any startup, regardless of size and headcount, do to become resilient? Here's a practical and empowering overview.

Why do growing startups overlook cybersecurity? 

Neglecting cybersecurity is rarely a deliberate, conscious decision. Rather, hectic early growth stages and the expectations they set push decisions related to security back and farther down the priority ladder.

Founders feel like they have to tackle the fundamentals first – develop an MVP, attract investors, rapidly develop new features, etc. Security doesn’t have an immediate impact in this context. Worse yet, security is seen as a development bottleneck since the testing and compliance checks it necessitates slow down core processes.

Keeping cybersecurity consistent is challenging while founders and early hires are still juggling multiple responsibilities. Theoretically, not having a dedicated role for it means cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility. In practice, it more often than not turns into everyone’s low priority.

Most dangerously, some startup founders genuinely don’t see value in early-stage cybersecurity. They continue to think that attackers won't bother with small companies. They don’t realize that the IP and customer data they already have are hot commodities made easy to steal thanks to easily addressable vulnerabilities.

By the time they judge that the company needs it, the lack of cybersecurity becomes fundamental to established processes and company culture. Changes become harder to implement, both due to technical challenges and internal pushback.

Which security gaps does scaling introduce? 

Limited resources coupled with rushed processes and rapid infrastructure changes define the typical startup scaling experience. Existing security gaps widen as a result, and new ones may be introduced without acknowledgment. The most common ones include:

• Access management weaknesses, like overly permissive account rights and a lack of cleanup when employees leave or switch roles;

• No secure coding standards and accompanying blunders like hardcoding secrets;

• Neglectful system patching or reliance on outdated libraries and frameworks;

• Poor data management and backup practices, such as a lack of encryption or non-existent backup testing;

• No way to log and be alerted to security incidents, resulting in unnoticed data breaches and long-term vulnerabilities;

• No security support for remote and distributed teams;

• Risks stemming from poor or non-existent third-party vetting;

• Not meeting compliance requirements, potentially resulting in fines and loss of confidence from enterprise investors;

• No incident response strategies and an inability to isolate and address threats.

How to implement cybersecurity best practices early on? 

Everything starts with framing cybersecurity as a non-negotiable prerequisite for sustainable growth. From there, startups can implement practical measures that have a tangible impact and scale with the company.

• Employee training – Can be conducted in short, recurring sessions that brush employees up on existing and emerging cyber threats. Additionally, a basic primer should be part of onboarding to ensure new hires don't dilute the company's cybersecurity awareness baseline.

• Access management – Can be improved significantly by enforcing the least privilege principle and setting up adequate account protections. Using password managers to generate strong credentials and back them up with two-factor authentication is neither expensive nor costly, yet it addresses a core data breach source.

• Network protection – Similarly straightforward. Setting up next-gen firewalls and segmenting off the most vulnerable internal systems limits the impact remaining security incidents have.

• Additional protection for remote workers and distributed teams – Mandating VPNs for PC or Mac protects data from being intercepted, even if employees unknowingly use unsafe networks. Moreover, VPNs serve as an effective access measure if the IPs they use are whitelisted.

• Secure coding practices – Early adoption of static analysis tools and code reviews. Dependencies are regularly monitored and replaced with suitable alternatives when no longer supported.

• Data protection essentials – Encrypting data in transit and at rest, collecting only as much of it as needed, maintaining and regularly testing a robust backup strategy.

• Incident response – Can be handled informally at first as long as individuals take responsibility for threat detection, escalation handling, and communicating with stakeholders.

Conclusion 

Two pervasive myths keep startups from giving cybersecurity due attention from the start: costly implementation and their own supposed irrelevance. Understanding why that's the case empowers founders to comprehensively set their startups for a safer and more certain future.