As per a report by Positive Technologies, hackers can penetrate 93 percent of organizational networks across different sectors and gain access to local network resources. We bet you weren’t prepared to see such a figure. Now that you have, what should be the next step?
It’s obviously securing your business. You may hear new advice every day on how to do that but not every one of them applies to small businesses. Too much advice will most definitely lead to confusion.
The All-important List
Keeping this in mind, we have prepared a list of the best cybersecurity practices to keep your business secure in a world of increasingly advanced cyber threats.
- Keep software and hardware up-to-date – Upgrading to the latest software version enables you to protect yourself from existing security vulnerabilities by implementing new features, fixing bugs, and updating security protocols. Hardware should also be upgraded to handle the latest software updates.
- Use anti-virus and anti-malware tools – Installing anti-virus and anti-malware tools can protect your devices and networks from getting hit by complex cyber-attacks. This helps prevent outages and downtime that can hamper business operations significantly.
- Privatize your connections – Information transferred over public networks is most vulnerable and targeted by hackers with a high success rate. Using a VPN (virtual private network), you can encrypt the shared information to keep the network extra secure.
- Make two-factor authentication a must – Add another layer of protection to your business operations to verify who has access to its IT infrastructure. This makes unauthorized entry into your company’s network impossible.
- Store confidential data in secure locations – Private business data must only be accessible to a select few people. To make that possible, you should store them in locations that are not even remotely available to unauthorized persons.
- Scan external devices for viruses – A casual plug-in of an unverified pen drive can inject a virus into the company network, leading to huge losses. Always scan external storage devices for viruses and malware before connecting them to the company system.
- Don’t assume your IT network is “secure enough” – In times of advancing cyber-threat levels, one can never be too secure. Implementing the latest security measures is the only way of being one step ahead of people with malicious intent.
Not Possible by Yourself?
Don’t fret just yet! Most small businesses may not be able to implement all of the measures mentioned above. Guess what? Managed security service providers offering cybersecurity solutions can make that happen.
Single Point of Contact is a Managed Security Service Provider that provides a wide range of cybersecurity technologies and services. Our job is to keep our clients’ network safe and secure by resolving potential security threats. With regular security monitoring, and protection against cyber-attacks, we seek to help our clients attain peace of mind. Contact us today to discover more about how we can help protect your network from cyber-attacks.
