5 Cybersecurity Tips Every Business Should Follow

With the massive global transformative shift to remote working environments, cyber threats are surfacing every day. Businesses, big or small, seemingly have a target on their backs. It is imperative to have an effective network security infrastructure. Fortunately, there are some ways businesses can actively protect themselves from ransomware attacks.

Conduct a security risk assessment

Every business using a network should conduct regular security assessments. Routine assessments will help you understand if your existing network security infrastructure is protecting your business from malicious activities. You will be aware of the most critical threats to your business and system failures and how to fix them.

Each access point or workstation is an individual security risk. You can limit employees’ access to specific data that they need for the stipulated workspace docket. An employee should not access sensitive data without necessary clearance and if your staff are to access sensitive company data, then they should explain why they need to get it.

Train your employees

One of the most common ways cybercriminals get access to your data is through your employees. Conducting employee awareness training on network security and protection against cyberattacks is the most efficient way to ensure cybersecurity. Train employees to check links before clicking on them and confirming email addresses from the received emails. It is important to limit your workmates from sharing or forwarding sensitive company data outside the network unless allowed to do so by the right personnel.

If possible, write and distribute a clear set of rules and instructions on cybersecurity practices for your employees at work. This can include policies as social media use, bringing their own devices (BTOD), authentication requirements, and not leaving their devices or workstations unattended.

Use multiple layers of protection

Implement a password policy for every workstation that requires strong passwords, preferably alpha-numeric, and monitor employee’s accounts or workstations for breaches or unauthorized access through dark web monitoring. Use a firewall, VPN, and antivirus software to ensure your network is not vulnerable to malicious attacks. Implement multi-factor authentication and hard drive encryption.

If possible, encourage your employees to implement two-step authentication to ensure user accountability. 

Keep software up to date

Outdated and unpatched software will allow threats to breach your security. Cyberattacks exploit software vulnerabilities using various techniques to gain access to a system and data. Updating your software and systems will add patches to any previous vulnerability. 

Back up your data

Back up your data on a daily basis if possible, in real-time, so you can retrieve data even in case of data corruption or data loss caused by security breaches. Implement a data protection tool that takes incremental backups periodically throughout the day to prevent data loss. 

Considering the rampant growth of internet usage, businesses should be resilient and adaptive to implement available cybersecurity measures to protect their business information. Hackers are surfacing every day and getting smarter. Having the proper tools and systems in place can prevent costly and frustrating data breaches and ransomware attacks.

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