Tips for Protecting Yourself Against Cybercrime
Small to midsized businesses are often a major target for cybercriminals. Knowing that these organizations have less financial resources to dedicate to security often makes them more susceptible to intrusion. The results of being a victim of cyberattack are often devastating to any organization – not only do they cause major financial impacts, but productivity can also come to a stop from malware strains as ransomware. Furthermore, reputational damage is another common long term result, due to the damage in the trust in your organization’s ability to keep client data secure. This article aims to provide recommendations on cybersecurity steps that you can take as a small business to protect yourself against cyberattack.
Password Management
Credentials to authenticate a login to your sensitive accounts is the first layer of defense against data theft. If employees use the same password for all of their account, it could increase the risk that their credentials will be breached by a brute-force attack. In a brute-force attack, a malicious attacker ‘guesses’ all the possible combinations of a password in order to gain access to your accounts. To counter this, ensure that your organization’s password policies prevent commonly-used passwords from being used, and that the same passwords aren’t kept for extended periods of time. To bolster account protection further, consider using Multifactor Authentication to add an extra layer of security.
Deploy Spam Filters to Reduce Phishing Scams
A phishing attack is a type of cyberattack that aims to trick victims into providing their sensitive information or downloading malicious files from a fake source. In this type of attack, the cyberattacker contacts a user via platforms such as email while pretending to be a legitimate company, such as an antivirus provider, software provider, or bank. In the email, users are often notified of a problem with their account, prompting them to do a password reset. However, the links in the email direct users to fraudulent websites, aimed at stealing the information that they provide.
Spam filters can help prevent your employees from receiving phishing emails by blocking suspicious domains, reducing the chance of your organization falling victim to one of these cyberattacks.
Cloud Backups
Many types of cyberattacks, such as ransomware, aim to leverage your organization for extortion by locking your important data and computers via malware. These forms of attack leverage the fact that organizations cannot function without access to their systems. However, with secure and thorough cloud backups, you can ensure that you always have access to unaffected backups of your data.
In the event of a cyberattack, this gives your organization a reliable failsafe that always allows you to restore aspects of functionality immediately while the incident is resolved.
Maintain Software Up-to-Date
Software updates often contain more than just interface and feature updates. Developers and cybersecurity professionals often add fixes to newly discovered cybersecurity threats through these patches. It is important to always apply pending updates to your software to ensure that you are protected against these vulnerabilities.
Neglecting an important security fix patch could leave your organization open to attack, as cyberattackers could exploit the vulnerability before it has been repaired. Don’t fall victim to Cyberattack. GIGE Corporation has over 30 years keeping Canadian organizations safe from attack. Call us at +1 888 366 4443 or email info@gige.ca to get started with us today.