In the current digitalized world, companies are striving to tap into the ever-evolving cyberspace opportunities, from automating internal processes to adopting cloud services. While the internet stands out as an indispensable tool for businesses across the globe, the online landscape has become a prey for hackers, cyber thieves, and criminals.
Between 2020 and 2021, more than 24,000 cybersecurity incidents were reported worldwide, with 2,065 incidents being recorded in small companies. Most companies have to pay a hefty ransom to regain control over their critical IT systems, which calls for proper precautions to prevent these cybercrimes and their negative impacts on businesses. Below are the eight most effective ways to improve your company’s cybersecurity.
Secure Your Databases and Networks
Using a cyber risk management platform is the most effective way to secure your networks, databases, and other digital assets. Click here to learn more about it and how it works. You may also protect your networks by encrypting information and setting up firewalls. Ensure you hide your Wi-Fi network and protect its password.
You might also consider protecting your company database by setting up automatic data backing and completing it once a day or a week. By backing up the company database, you reduce the risk of losing all your data in the event of a cyberattack.
Perform an Annual Penetration Test
An annual penetration test or pen test enables you to determine if your networks or systems are subject to cyber vulnerabilities. Most cyber insurance policies and certifications require companies to perform annual pen tests. The pen tests come in multiple types, including simple external automated scanning web tools for a vulnerability that only focuses on the surface. It would be best if you also hired a certified ethical hacker to conduct an in-depth examination of all your cybersecurity protection layers. In addition, you can partner with fractional CIO consulting services to help you optimize your networks and systems.
Educate Your Employees
Ransomware and phishing depend on human mistakes that can put your business in danger. Most employees who receive phishing emails fail to recognize them as fraud rendering the entire company in danger.
You need to teach your employees about their role in protecting and securing the information of the company, colleagues, and customers. Limit the number of staff with authorized administrative access to the company systems. This will reduce the number of programs they can download, lowering the risk of downloading malicious software and viruses. Training employees as they join the company and providing yearly training sessions will be best.
Upgrade Your Security Protocol
You can protect all your company and employees’ data from potential hackers by putting in place authentication factors, like multi-factor authentication (MFA) and two-factor authentication (2FA). By implementing more secure authentication methods, hackers and attackers may find the added security layers hard to bypass. You can always find a 2FA and MFA that suits your budget and configuration
Maintain Plugins and Software
You might be tempted to ignore those pop-up windows informing you about the available updates, but you face the risk of being scanned by potential hackers because of having obsolete software. The security and health of your software largely depend on regular updates. These updates help fix security flaws while protecting your data. They also enhance system protection through anti-virus programs. If you can’t keep up with the manual routine processes, allow automatic updates.
Regularly Review Your Policies and Processes
Your policies define how well your company handles data, while procedures dictate when and how things need to be done. Start by evaluating the effectiveness of the current company policies and security measures.
To do this, obtain certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for your security techniques and information technology. It will enable you to determine if your business complies with integrity, confidentiality, and security controls.
You need to set clear policies and practices to shield the company from cyberattacks and offer guidelines to resolve issues if they happen. Give your employees an outline of how to handle situations and determine the consequences for violating the policies.
Stay Up to Date With Cybersecurity Changes
Your company’s cybersecurity protection systems need to evolve with a shift in cybersecurity threats. It is crucial to undertake periodic staff readiness assessments to determine vulnerability areas and whether the current training and policies need modifications. You can document all the assessment results to encourage compliance and ensure that all employees adhere to all risk remediation recommendations.
Invest in a Higher Bandwidth Network Infrastructure
You need to build a network infrastructure that can provide enhanced security for enterprise applications and sensitive data. Higher bandwidth will also give you a quicker data transfer rate, leading to shortened download times. This will allow secure and convenient collaboration among employees anytime, anywhere.
With cyber vulnerabilities and attacks becoming more rampant, it’s high time you develop a solid cybersecurity culture that will help protect all your company’s systems, data, and other digital assets. Assess the effectiveness of your existing cybersecurity measures and focus on keeping everything under control.
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