How To Improve Cyber Security At Your Company
In today’s digital age, the value of cyber security skills and knowledge is skyrocketing. Where once upon a time, only giant corporations needed to worry about cyber attacks, cyber criminals around the world have discovered ways to make any data valuable, resulting in no individual or business being safe. With insane rates of cybercrime exploding all over the world, there’s never been a better time to learn about improving cyber security at your company. The following will explore some tips and tricks that can help increase your data privacy and protection.
Why Is This Important?
In case you’re not up to date on the cybercrime realities, it might be worth noting that cybercriminals are able to penetrate 93% of company networks; it’s also important to note that in 2021, businesses suffered 50% more cyberattack attempts each weak. In the education and research sectors, there were 75% more attacks, and in the healthcare sector, there were 71% more attacks. Small and medium-sized businesses were often specially targeted due to a lack of security resources and knowledge. In fact, 66% of small businesses have experienced a cyber attack in the last year. Breaches to security resulted in financial losses; 25% of small businesses who experienced an attack filed for bankruptcy, and 10% went out of business.
Employee Training
One of the major things you can do to improve security at your company is to educate staff on common weak points in security and things they need to be doing to keep themselves and their jobs protected. Elements of this might include explaining the importance of cyber security the common threats to security that should be avoided, like phishing emails/texts, malware downloads, social engineering attacks, or social media spam. Perhaps you even want to select a member of the company for an online master’s cyber security no GRE. No matter what training you include, it’s important to note that training needs to be updated regularly. Cybercriminals are constantly learning new ways to access information, and security experts are constantly developing new protective measures.
Develop Good Passwords
One of the first steps you need to take to protect yourself, and the valuable data you collect within your company is to develop and use good passwords. Make sure that all staff knows what constitutes a good password and consider requiring staff to change up their passwords every month or quarter at the minimum. Many hackers use automated software that allows them to enter hundreds of password guesses per minute. A poor password can be quickly broken using this kind of technology. This is also especially important if you have members of staff working from home as not everyone secures their home devices appropriately.
Secure Your Internet
The wireless internet used in your workplace needs to be secure; it’s far too easy for cybercriminals to access things happening on your network once they’re inside it. If guests, customers, or clients need access to wifi without a password or if you have the password posted somewhere for them, you need two separate internet options, one for staff and one for visitors.
Update Software
Yes, it can be annoying when your computer is constantly reminding you that you need to update your software. You might find yourself wishing there was a remind me never button, but you should ignore that wish and take the time to update the programs you use as soon as updates are available. In many cases, updates present solutions to recently discovered security holes, and this means that without the update, you might be leaving yourself open for a cyber attack.
Back-Up Data
Of course, cyber-attacks are not ideal, and you want to avoid them at any cost, but you also want to be sure that if one does occur, you’re not losing valuable information that you need to run and manage your business. Completing regular backups of your data can save you a ton of headaches later on down the road.
Firewall
A firewall is an element of security that helps protect your network by filtering traffic and also blocking outsiders from gaining access to private data. It is designed to stop unauthorized users from interacting with things behind the firewall, essentially acting as a gatekeeper. You need a firewall for your network.
The above list is by no means complete. Cyber security is an ongoing journey that needs to be regularly revisited and adjusted as cybercriminals develop new techniques and stronger security measures are developed and made available to the public. If you’re struggling with this process, you can reach out to an IT specialist or a cyber security professional for guidance and security auditing.