The Right Cybersecurity Measures are a Great Confidence Booster

Nowadays, we’re all busy—especially at work. Collectively, our days are filled with improving our products and services, cultivating client relationships, and putting out fires left and right. Do you really have the mental bandwidth to commit to quibbling over whether or not your data is secure?

The fact of the matter is that cyberattacks of all kinds are a constant threat to everyone, and could very well take your business out of commission unless you do something about it. Let’s review some steps that will help reinforce your business’ security posture and better defend your data.

How to Make Your Business a Harder Target to Hit

Dealing with a cyberattack is no fun (putting it lightly), so it makes sense to make your business as challenging a target as possible so that cybercriminals simply don’t see you as worth their time to target. Most will generally take the path of least resistance and stick to attacking those who are more vulnerable.

Let’s go over a few ways to make your business a more challenging target.

Passwords and Multi-Factor Authentication

This is a good starting point, as it is one of a hacker’s first means of targeting a business. Enforce password creation standards to make sure your team is using unique and sufficiently secure verification codes, and reinforce these passwords through multi-factor authentication. MFA requires a user to provide additional proof of their identity before access to an account or resource will be granted, like a code generated via an application. This adds a significant hurdle for a hacker, even if they’ve managed to obtain the necessary credentials.

Data Backups

Attacks like ransomware are so effective because they take advantage of your reliance on your data to put you in a tough spot. A data backup takes the wind out of their sails by ensuring that you retain access to a copy of your data, allowing you to resume operations as you work on removing the threat.

Software Updates

Outdated software lacks the patches that developers release to shore up vulnerabilities, so applying these patches on a timely basis is necessary for acceptable security. Ideally, you set up automatic updates for your various applications, security tools, and operating systems to ensure these holes are filled without requiring you to act.

Employee Training

One of your most important protections can also be your biggest vulnerability, if not properly kept up to speed: your team members. Your team needs to be trained on cybersecurity best practices, able to recognize phishing messages, report any suspicious activity they see, and know protocols front and back. It doesn’t take much to undermine your entire organization, so each and every one of your team members needs to be ready to spot and respond to threats professionally and appropriately.

Be Confident in the Security Protecting Your Business

While this is more to manage, it is ultimately worth implementing these defenses to prevent your business from suffering greater damages and to ensure your business’ current and future health. We can help!

For assistance implementing, utilizing, and maintaining your cybersecurity protections, reach out to Itek Systems at (440) 510-8611 to learn more about our managed services.