In the modern business era, cybersecurity is a very serious matter. Hackers have more tools and motives than ever. Plus, data breaches can be very damaging as the general public has started to understand the impact of stolen data better. Thus, if you want to keep your business safe, you will need to take steps to avoid breaches. The following tips should help.
1. Educate Your Team Members
First and foremost, you need to educate your team members on how to handle computer systems and data. People are typically the weakest link in any security strategy. They can make mistakes or be tricked more easily than technical defenses can be defeated in most cases.
Teaching people have to recognize threats and avoid them can be an invaluable step in protecting your systems. Any security strategy is only as good as the most vulnerable part. Thus, you need to implement a strong training and education program.
2. Implement a Zero Trust Security Model
Additionally, you should consider using a zero trust model for your network security. In zero trust security, you assume that no packets of data can be trusted, regardless of the source. Thus, data in your internal network needs to be scanned and checked in the same way that data coming from the internet would be.
The benefit of this approach is that you can avoid many common vulnerabilities. For example, if one of your team members’ devices gets compromised with malware, you won’t suddenly be exposed because they connected to your internal Wi-Fi network.
3. Require Third-Party Compliance
In a similar vein, you should make sure that your third-party software and vendors are compliant with your cybersecurity standards. Again, you don’t want to trust the devices used by third parties simply because you are doing business with them.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to demand that vendors make expensive cybersecurity investments just to work with you. Instead, you can follow industry standards and seek out vendors that meet those same standards also.
4. Keep Software and Hardware Up to Date
Software can have security vulnerabilities. These are found over time and patched by the software distributors. However, you will not have the patches that fix those exploits if you don’t have your software up to date.
Similarly, some hardware can have vulnerabilities. For example, some older Intel CPUs are vulnerable to the Meltdown and Spectre exploits. Updating to newer models can help to ensure that your business is protected.
5. Require Secure Passwords
Passwords are often one of the easier attack vectors for cybercriminals. They can be defeated using phishing, social engineering or even just brute force attacks. One of the ways that you can improve your security is to require long and strong passwords for all your systems. Consider setting up a password management system to ensure that your team members are using very strong passwords.
By the same token, you may consider setting up multifactor authentication. This requires an additional security factor, typically an app or device that makes one-time passwords, to supplement your login credentials.
6. Have a Breach Response Plan
Finally, you should not assume that you will never experience a cyber breach. Chances are that you will be attacked with one at some point. Thus, it is important to have a plan for how you will respond to that breach. A big part of this should be how your IT staff deal with it in the moment. While they won’t be “putting up extra firewalls” like in the movies, their quick response can help to mitigate the impact.
Plus, you can prepare for how to handle the fallout. For example, this may include notifying customers about the breach. Moving quickly can help you to protect your business.
Learn More
Discover more about dealing with cybersecurity threats. From strong passwords to zero trust security, you can do a lot to protect your business from breaches.
