Top 10 Best Practices for Fortifying Your Organization Against Cyber Attack
- Backup, Backup, Backup!
Put in place a hybrid strategy for backing up your data – ensure that you have both a local backup and a cloud solution in place in case of disaster. Backups should be tested regularly, and should be performed no less than once per day. Ideally, your organization’s backup should be performed once every hour for premium recovery.
- Put a Strong Firewall in Place
With your employees accessing the web day in and day out, controlling the flow of internet traffic coming in and out of your business is crucial. A strong firewall is a vital asset in your suite of cybersecurity tools to have in place to protect your business.
- Install Antivirus Protection
Antivirus and Anti-Malware software is one of your organization’s most important lines of defense against cyber attack. Choosing the best program for your business, and monitoring the alerts as they come in will help you maintain a cyber secure environment for all users.
- Secure Your Email
Most attacks continue to come through via email. Ensure that your organization has an email service designed to halt email spam and phishing attempts in their tracks!
- Keep Your Technology Up to Date
All outdated technology can be a security vulnerability to your business. Keep your programs up to date on any patches or updates that are pushed out to keep your business as safe as possible. Additionally, refreshing your hardware on a regular basis will allow for greater protection as technology becomes more sophisticated.
- Monitor the Dark Web
Did you know that your credentials (or the credentials of a team member!) could already be on the dark web? By adopting a dark web monitoring software, you can check the dark web regularly for instances of your organization’s credentials and take steps to mediate the issue before a cybercriminal uses those credentials to maliciously hack into your system!
- Secure All Mobile Devices
Today’s workforce is as mobile as ever. The first step towards protecting your team’s mobile devices is to establish password policies, encryption software, and to enable remote wiping on the device should you need it. A Mobile Device Management plan addresses each of these issues and more. Additionally, ask your team to be mindful of where they keep their devices – never leave a laptop in a locked car, for instance, as this is a prime opportunity for thieves.
- Assign a Resource to Monitor Your Infrastructure
Whether it’s your internal IT professional or a third party expert, it is critical to have a trusted resource to monitor all of your security software on an ongoing basis. Software protection is no good unless it’s working properly and each and every alert is dealt with in the proper manner. It only takes a small window of time to have huge consequences.
- Apply Password Policies Across Your Organization
Implementing strong passwords across your organization is one of the most effective policies to have in place to protect your infrastructure. Always avoid using personal data, common words spelled backwards, or any sequence of letters or numbers that are close together on the keyboard (12345, QWERTY). Also urge users to never, ever write down a password!
- Educate Your Employees!
Your employees are a cybercriminal’s best chance to breach your network. Educating your employees about the organization’s cybersecurity best practices is one of your best lines of defense against cyberattack. Users should be made of aware of the value of your data, how to spot a phishing attempt, and what your password policy entails. Revisit this tactic often, as a cyber-savvy workforce is a more effective strategy than anything else you can put in place.
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