Simple Ways to Up Your Cybersecurity
There are a lot of misconceptions about cybersecurity. People believe it’s highly complex, extremely expensive, and often ineffective. And while there is some truth to all those statements, none is entirely accurate.
Cybercrime is such a problem because companies are still learning to take the threat seriously.
They often fail to take very basic protections, which leaves them exposed to a wide range of threats. The good news is that expansive and effective protection doesn’t have to be confusing or expensive.
By taking a few common-sense steps it’s possible to defend against a wide range of cyber threats.
And with the right protections in place, it’s possible to minimize the damage if and when an attack is effective. Adopt these super simple strategies to strengthen your cybersecurity.
- Use Two-Factor Authentication – It’s relatively easy for hackers to steal or guess passwords. Two-factor authentication (2FA) requires users to provide a second layer of login credentials before accessing important accountants. In practice, this easy defense makes it much harder for hackers to access sensitive information.
- Schedule Your Virus Scans – Most organizations have some anti-virus protection in place. Set it up to regularly scan your network for viruses. A systematic approach catches a lot more red flags than relying on irregular manual scans.
- Install Software Carefully – Malware and other malicious programs often pretend to be legitimate software downloads. Vetting any download carefully should be the company policy at all levels.
- Train Users Regularly – It’s very hard to spot threats, which is why users click bad links or download bad attachments. Educating users on how to identify red flags and training them how to respond is a highly-effective defense. When hackers can’t exploit either technology or users they quickly look for different targets.
- Get Cyber Security Insurance – No cybersecurity strategy is perfect. When an attack inevitably succeeds, cyber security insurance makes it much easier to recover. Companies have access to technical, legal, and financial resources when they need them most. Together, those help to ensure a cyberattack does not have disastrous consequences for a company.
- Develop a Response Plan – There is often a panic that sets in after a cyberattack is discovered. Identifying and eliminating the threat is much easier when procedures are planned out in advance. Outline who, what, when, where, why, and how the response should be conducted.
- Avoid Shortened Links – Link shortening services like Bit.ly are convenient. But they are also suspicious. It’s very easy to conceal a corrupted link by simply shortening it. The best policy is to prohibit users from clicking these links entirely.
- Backup Your Data – Data backups is now easy, inexpensive, and largely automatic. It’s also an effective defense against the worst kinds of attacks. When data is securely backed up it can’t be compromised or destroyed. That way, even if a cyberattack strikes the target is immune to the damage.
Conclusion
Cybersecurity may never be certain, but it can be strong. Taking each of the steps outlined above blocks many attacks and prevents many accidents. Better still, it addresses both defenses and responses. Companies will still need to be focused on cybersecurity. But they can be a lot less anxious about it as well.
