According to recent statistics, cybercrime is a $1.5 trillion per year enterprise. All of that money was taken from innocent individuals or legitimate corporations. The threat might feel too big to handle sometimes, but there are small things that any business owner can do to protect themselves and their assets. Here are six tips for protecting your company’s data.
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Monitor Your Data
A strong IT department is rapidly becoming the cornerstone of every business. A solid IT infrastructure is to data breaches what a good fire department is to a destructive blaze: prevention. The data-rich environments of modern business combined with the distributed nature of computing make data monitoring tools (like Prometheus monitoring) more vital than ever. Consider investing in these systems and in the experts who know how to deploy them.
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Adopt Zero Trust Architecture
The first move your business should make is to change its approach to online security. The new wave in security protocol is known as “zero trust.” Cybercriminals are no longer restricted by geography. Your defense can no longer be seen in terms of defending a border. Zero trust means establishing the credentials of all users on your network. It also means limiting their access to the minimum needed to accomplish a task. It might feel like paranoia, but it’s the only way to ensure that everyone on your network is supposed to be there.
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Secure All User Endpoints
Remote workforces and ubiquitous computing present a unique challenge. There are so many diverse devices attached to the same networks that a breach of one could result in everything being compromised. That’s why standardization and compliance are so important to security. Endpoint security means augmenting existing antivirus and firewall systems as well as making sure that everyone on the network complies with these standards
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Train Employees in Security Protocol
The most effective method of creating effective security standards is constant training. In a study last year by security company Tessian, a shocking 43% of employees admitted to making mistakes that compromised workplace data. Many of these errors involved social slip-ups. Workers either give up information to someone over the phone without asking for bona fides first or click on links in fraudulent emails through force of habit. All of these issues can be cleared up by training everyone to recognize the warning signs of an incoming attack.
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Make Stronger Passwords
One of the more common cybersecurity errors is the use of weak passwords. Verizon found in their 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report that 61% of incidents involved stolen or compromised credentials. Many people make the mistake of choosing a simple or short password for the sake of convenience. Unfortunately, if it’s easy for you to remember, it’s just as simple for criminals to break.
Passwords should ideally be 12 characters in length or longer and include both letters and numbers. Making them a personal reference is tempting, but if someone knows you, they can guess your password. Avoid writing them down, and if you do, shred them before throwing them out. Take a look at the worst passwords out there to avoid this simple but costly mistake.
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Have a Recovery Plan
Preventing a data breach is only the first step. Having a plan in place to respond to a worst-case scenario is just as vital. The first job is to contain the breach, isolate the affected systems, and assess exactly what went wrong. The authorities have to be noticed, as do clients who might have been impacted. This is why having secure data storage is so important.
Restoring local data files is the first step to recovery. Consider storing data offsite in the cloud or offline entirely. Flash drives often come with encryption options and having hard copies that can’t be hacked means peace of mind. Explore all your options for keeping company data out of the hands of criminals.
Conclusion
Learning the tactics for keeping safe is simple. Putting them into practice takes the creative thinking of an entrepreneur. Consider these tips a starting point for better security at your company.
