Left, Boom, and Right: A Cybersecurity Playbook for Business Resilience
Written by: Jim Haney
The Calm Before the Storm: Understanding “Left of Boom”
In military terms, “Boom” refers to a catastrophic event—an explosion, an ambush, or an attack. Everything that happens before the explosion is considered “Left of Boom.” In cybersecurity, “Boom” is the breach—the ransomware attack, data theft, or network intrusion that can cripple businesses.
“Left of Boom” is where proactive security measures take place. This phase is all about prevention, detection, and fortification. Organizations that succeed in this phase often never experience a devastating “Boom.”
Key Left of Boom Strategies
- Threat Intelligence & Monitoring – Leveraging real-time data and sharing threat intelligence with industry groups to anticipate cyber threats before they strike.
- Security Awareness Training – Educating employees on phishing, social engineering, and password hygiene.
- Network Security & Firewalls – Deploying SonicWall firewalls to prevent unauthorized access.
- Endpoint Protection & Zero Trust – Ensuring all devices accessing the network are continuously verified.
- Regular Penetration Testing – Simulating cyberattacks to uncover vulnerabilities before hackers do.
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) – Reducing reliance on passwords alone to strengthen access security.
In this phase, prevention is king. Every dollar spent here saves businesses from the much greater cost of responding to an actual breach.
The Impact: “Boom” Hits
“Boom” is the moment of crisis—the breach, the ransomware encryption, the unauthorized access that leads to data exfiltration. For many organizations, this is where panic sets in. Downtime begins, losses accumulate, and reputations are on the line.
What Happens During Boom
- Systems Lock Down – Data may be encrypted or exfiltrated.
- Financial Losses Accelerate – Companies may face extortion demands, regulatory fines, and lost revenue.
- Brand Reputation Takes a Hit – Customers and stakeholders lose trust in affected organizations.
- Incident Response is Activated – IT teams scramble to isolate the breach and mitigate damage, ideally following a well-tested Incident Response Plan.
Having a robust Incident Response Plan, tested regularly through tabletop exercises, is critical at this stage. Without it, businesses can lose precious hours trying to determine the right course of action.
The Aftermath: “Right of Boom”
“Right of Boom” is the recovery phase—how a company responds, learns, and strengthens its security posture post-breach. This phase is about damage control, remediation, and ensuring that a similar attack doesn’t happen again.
Right of Boom Strategies
- Many organizations first consult legal counsel to ensure compliance and liability protection. Before taking further action, businesses often work with their attorneys to confirm regulatory obligations, assess cybersecurity insurance coverage, and ensure appropriate disclosure protocols.
- Forensic Analysis – Understanding how the breach happened and plugging security gaps.
- Rapid Data Restoration – Having a business continuity plan with secure, immutable backups and air-gapped storage ensures minimal downtime.
- Patching & Hardening Systems – Addressing vulnerabilities exploited during the attack.
- Incident Response Review – Learning from mistakes and updating cybersecurity policies.
- Public Relations & Compliance – Communicating transparently with customers, stakeholders, and regulatory bodies.
At this stage, businesses must shift from reactive to proactive recovery, ensuring resilience against future attacks.
How Doceo and SonicWall Keep You Left of Boom
At Doceo, we believe in keeping our clients Left of Boom as much as possible. That’s why we’ve partnered with SonicWall, a leader in cybersecurity innovation. Together, we provide:
- AI-driven threat intelligence to detect and stop threats in real time, aligning with modern XDR (Extended Detection and Response) approaches.
- Next-gen firewalls that block malware before it enters your network.
- Zero Trust security models to prevent unauthorized access.
- Continuous monitoring & alerts to keep threats at bay.
The combination of Doceo’s expertise and SonicWall’s proven security solutions ensures that your business remains protected against evolving cyber threats. This partnership delivers proactive defense, fast response, and expert management, so you don’t have to navigate cybersecurity challenges alone.
Take Action Before It’s Too Late
Cybersecurity is not about “if” an attack happens—it’s about “when.” The question is, will your business be prepared Left of Boom or scrambling Right of Boom?
Let Doceo and SonicWall work together to provide the best cybersecurity protection for your business.
📞 Call us at: 888-757-6626 🌐 Visit us at: mydoceo.com
