Cyber security is a complex subject to handle, but it is something that no company CEO can avoid anymore. Many organizations have lost their reputation and money to hackers and cyber criminals because they weren’t fully prepared. So, who’s next? A good rule of thumb is that cyber-attacks happen every day and no one is safe. From individuals sitting at home to the world's largest enterprises, everyone is a target.
If you are not a technical person, then cyber security can be a challenge for you. However, you don’t need to dig deep as we’ve got you covered. For your ease, we have put together a comprehensive list of steps that you can take to gear up your business against cyber-attacks.
1) Secure Your Company's Wireless Networks
Every office nowadays has Wi-Fi but is it secure? No, not always! As the company's head, you must be wary of cyber-attacks through 2 channels:
1) Unsecured Wi-Fi inside the company: Do you know, cybercriminals can intercept every ounce of data exchanged across the Wi-Fi such as confidential emails, employee passwords, credit card information, and even the browsing history? For this reason, your Wi-Fi router/s must always be encrypted using WPA2.
2) Employees connecting to public Wi-Fi hotspots: Public Wi-Fi is precarious, and your employees must know the dangers of working on them. You must train your employees on using public networks without comprising company data; otherwise, the loss can be enormous.
2) Identify Company’s Critical Assets
A cyber-attack can cause huge implications on businesses as well as people directly or indirectly linked to them. Moreover, the outcomes can be terrible until the attack is contained. It's crucial, therefore, to understand what company assets can be a prime target and how well protected they are.
Your company has two types of valuable assets: tangible (cash, land, building, equipment, etc.) and intangible (records, software, copyrights, research, data, etc.). A malicious hacker can harm intangible assets if they are not adequately protected, causing huge operational loss, system failure, and financial damage.
3) Run Cyber Security Drills
A CEO must understand that everyone makes mistakes, whether they are your employees or your IT team. For this purpose, surprise cybersecurity drills are necessary to assess the weak links in your staff as well as the reliability of your current security systems in place.
Drills are exercises during which the company's firewalls, protective software, backup systems, IT team, monitoring devices, authorized personnel, and other security measures are tested against fake cyber-attacks such as phishing or DoS attacks.
Security drills are a great way to help staff learn from their mistakes and sharpen their skills. Moreover, such routines identify areas of improvement and training for both staff and systems both.
4) Create and Implement Security Policies
A company without rules can be an easy target for cyber attackers! Therefore, a CEO must put strong cybersecurity policies into action to protect the business's confidential data and intellectual properties from malicious hackers.
To accomplish this, the company must devise a scheme of rules to guide the staff to handle all information security-related issues. The next step is to make sure every staff member follows these guidelines.
Below are few rules to add to the security plan:
● Data Encryption Policy: Encryption converts information into gibberish data. All data, drives, files and other valuable information in your company should be encrypted by policy. The reason is that encrypted data is of no use to hackers as they won’t be able to understand or access it. So even if your company security is compromised, cyber criminals won’t be able to harm you. It should be compulsory for every worker to use encryption software on their work machines to keep company data safe.
● Remote Access Policy: As much as remote access is a convenience, it is a danger too. Hackers love to steal valuable data from company servers via remote access. Therefore, you must understand this weak link in your security chain. Always put together the proper process of remote access to data servers.
● Email Policy: According to this policy, employees must abide by certain rules when opening or sending emails.
● BYOD Policy: The Bring-Your-own-Device policy is for those offices where employees use their personal laptops, smartphones or tablets for work. This policy should bind such employees to protect company data at all times using set rules and procedures. One example is using a VP when on unprotected public Wi-Fi hotspots.
Some other policies could be Internet Access Policy, Data Backup Policy, Network Security Policy, and Communications Policy.
5) Add Extra Layers for Security
When it comes to information security, the more you do, the better. We advise you to add many layers of security between the data, the personnel, and the hacker to stay safe.
Here are some ways to improve your company’s security standards:
● Install Antivirus on all Workstations:
While Antivirus can't save your computer system from a virus, it can help identify and delete it for good. Viruses nowadays are brutal; they can cause severe damage to data, from deleting files to changing their contents. If your staff brings their own devices to the office, it is crucial to implement a BYOD policy. In this way, you can make sure every machine has Antivirus.
● Install Patching Software:
Software receives new updates every few days. While these updates are important, they can’t be left for manual work because it is a long and tiring job. Web-based attacks can target outdated software as they are vulnerable and obsolete. So, it's better to install patching software that keeps updating all third-party software as needed.
● Build A Firewall System:
Firewalls are shields that stop incoming cyber-attacks and brute force attacks. Moreover, using firewalls, you can isolate workstations and stay safe.
● Use Email Filters:
Email is another door for cyber attackers to harm your business security. Spams, threats, phishing, malware are some common problems and should be catered to using email filtering software.
● Employ Password Management System:
By using password management software, you can generate long and complicated passwords randomly and assign them to your staff. In this way, passwords are safer and more reliable. Moreover, this management software allows for safer password storage and sharing using unique encryption methods. Every company must have a list of access control. Meaning, who has access to what passwords and to what data.
6) Invest in Cyber Defence
You can’t win the race of cyber security without investing in the right resources. Although cyber defence is expensive, it can really help your company in the long run. Purchasing the right tools and hiring the right staff can help you detect vulnerabilities in your information security system as well as anticipate possible threat sources. The catch? Your critical company data is not compromised!
The easiest method to go about this is to consult your IT department and buy them any new resources (gadgets, software, personnel) they require. Remember if you will save your money here, you might end up bearing costs of brand damage, lost productivity and lost revenue due to a cyber-attack.
7) Train your Employees
Every employee is a company asset and might be carrying important company information. Teaching your employees about the risks of cyber-attacks inside and outside the organization is a precautionary measure that shouldn't be missed. Consider offering training programs, workshops, drill sessions and resource reading to your employees to better educate them on cyber threats.
Ensuring that each employee, even the newly hired, are well aware of company security policies and procedures should be a priority. Otherwise, it could lead to disastrous results and data leakage such as:
● Employees using unsecured public Wi-Fi hotspots on company laptops
● Employees uploading company data on personal clouds
● Employees leaving passwords unattended
8) Hire a Competitive IT Team (ahem…us)
Your company’s cyber security is in the hands of your IT Team so better not take any risks in that. As the company’s CEO, you can’t run around teaching people technology or employing security procedures yourself. Put these complex responsibilities on a well-established IT department and let them do their job.
For this reason, hire the most skilled and tech-savvy personnel in the positions of Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Technology (CTO), Network Administrators, Data Security Analysts and other related posts. The more skillful your IT team is, the less chances of a data breach.
9) Backup Your Data
No confidential data in your organization should ever enter a server without a backup copy. Why? Because backups help you to quickly restore operations after a cyber-attack disrupts or destroys data. This can happen due to a malware attack or ransomware attack.
A data backup policy is therefore a must in every organization. It will ensure every data is backed-up automatically and frequently. However, backups are useless until they are easily restorable, so make sure you use useful backup procedures only.
10) Get a Cyber Security Assessment
IT is a vast genre that goes far and beyond the technology boundaries. No matter how strong your IT team is, there will always be loopholes in your security. At the end of the day, it is the best idea to hire a third party to cyber assess your organization and find what you have missed.
A cyber security assessment can be a turning point in your company’s security foothold. Not only will it help reveal key problems but also potential solutions to them. Your IT department can do a lot, but you can’t replace the dedicated expertise and tools an IT services company can bring. Cyber-attacks are a serious threat for most businesses but with the right professional help, you can stay safe.
Acropolis is a trusted managed security provider that can give you the best security review for your company. Our people are skillful and trained to provide the highest quality services.
If you are skeptical about your organization’s current security status, then feel free to Contact Us.
We will guide you towards possible solutions and actionable advice to protect your business from cyber criminals, data breaches, and cyber-attacks.
Blog written by: Adnan Ahmed
