A considerable percentage of your business operations rely on the internet. As such, it’s best to find ways to protect it against cyber-attacks, as cybercrime will continuously pose a significant danger to your data. Additionally, adopting existing cybersecurity frameworks can help reduce your network’s vulnerabilities.
The framework to adopt can depend on your industry of operations and location. Even so, each framework provides significant cyber security guidelines that can help protect your business from potential cyber threats.
Additionally, it would be best to undertake various internal cybersecurity measures. Below are other steps to protect your business from cyber threats.
Your network and devices are vital entry points for cybercriminals. That’s because the network connects your information technology (IT) infrastructure and the internet. On the other hand, users use various devices to access the internet. Furthermore, most of these devices store crucial data. Therefore, it’s best if you start your cybersecurity measures in these areas.
To start with, you can set up a firewall that can help shield your network from the internet. Additionally, your endpoint devices should have firewall setups. A firewall is crucial if you have portable devices users often take out of your premises. However, regularly patching your firewall is essential to keep it effective.
Secondly, setting up spam filters for emails would be significantly helpful. As a result, you’ll reduce the risks of spam and phishing emails users might accidentally open. Thus, you’ll reduce your network’s vulnerability to malware infections. Installing anti-malware software can also help protect your network and devices from intrusions. Like firewalls, keeping your anti-malware software up to date is vital for adequate protection.
Lastly, updating the software you use in your IT infrastructure would be best. For instance, the operating systems of the different computers need to be up to date. The reason is that software vendors upgrade the security features of their products regularly. These upgrades can be versions protecting against recent cyber threats. Thus, installing updates on your devices and network would be best.
Installing software updates might take a short time or longer, depending on the version. Therefore, it would be best to schedule them to run when there’s less chance of interruption. Whichever way you choose, it’s crucial not to ignore software update prompts whenever you see them.
Monitoring device and network use are vital to protecting your business from cyber threats. For instance, what websites do users in your network visit? Are these sites secure? Your system administrator can help with this monitoring task and restrict access if necessary.
Knowing how users use your devices is vital. For example, some users can plug personal portable hard drives into work devices. Doing so may infect your devices and lose vital data. Hence, configuring your devices to block external drives would be helpful to deter this.
Your team members can have various accounts they need to access at work. Thus, they may use passwords they can easily remember. For instance, they can use their pet names or dates of birth. However, this makes them an easy target for cybercriminals. Therefore, having a passphrase policy for account access would be helpful.
Apart from passphrases, cyber security experts recommend login details have a mix of characters. For instance, strong login phrases can have numbers, lower- and upper-case letters, and special characters. Your network admin can help configure your system to prompt users for these strong login details.
Encryption software helps scramble your data before it’s sent over the internet. Thus, it helps protect it from data hijackers. In fact, some encryption software alerts you if there’s interference. As such, you can take necessary security precautions. Hence, encrypting your data makes it safe to store or share them online.
Apart from encryption software, you can also get a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN can be crucial because it encrypts your data, especially if your staff sometimes uses open Wi-Fi networks when working remotely. Thus, if you need to connect to your business network remotely, you can securely do so. In addition, most VPNs also have a kill-switch feature. This combination makes it an essential cyber security tool.
A multi-factor authentication (MFA) policy increases the number of user verification steps to gain access to your network. For instance, a typical login process can require a user to provide a password only. However, with MFA, the system can require a user to go through one or two other verification processes.
Such an extra process can be a one-time pin (PIN) on their mobile device. Alternatively, a user may need to provide biometric verification. Other applications may also require users to enter verification codes from a security authenticator from their mobile devices. As a result, the MFA steps help protect your network by providing an extra layer of security against unauthorized access.
Cyber threats change frequently. Therefore, it’s essential to keep your cybersecurity measures up to date. Additionally, educating your staff on cybersecurity awareness is also vital. As a result, you can reduce your business’s vulnerability to cyber threats.
