Crash Course in Cybersecurity: What Every Business Should Know
How much do you know about cybersecurity? If you aren’t already an IT expert, then the answer to that question is probably frustrating.
After all, there are malicious parties out there who are experts and ready to attack any business. Meanwhile, you’re supposed to thwart their efforts when this has nothing to do with your specialty.
It’s not a fun place to be, and it’s why you need reliable security resources. You need to be able to learn the fundamentals, and you need access to experts who can steer you in the right direction.
Acropolis is here to help.
Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Did you know that October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month? While that might not already be on your calendar, it’s important to us, and we want to use this month as a means to make sure you know the essentials of cybersecurity.
As the old saying goes, knowing is half the battle, and in the IT world, cybersecurity tends to be one of the most abstract and challenging topics for IT experts and clients alike.
With all of that in mind, let’s spend a few minutes going over cybersecurity—some of the essentials and how you can arm yourself with knowledge to protect yourself and your business from the most common and prolific kinds of attacks.
Managed Security Services
To begin with, if you don’t know where to start with cybersecurity, there are professional groups (like Acropolis) that offer managed security services. In essence, you’re outsourcing the entirety (or part) of your cybersecurity. You’re partnering with proven industry leaders, so you have less to worry about and more freedom to focus on your business. And with expert insights and a true partnership, you’ll have more visibility and oversight of your cybersecurity landscape.
This is a solid place to start, but we genuinely believe that information and understanding are the most important components of cybersecurity. That’s why the rest of this article is going to take you through a crash course on all of the things we teach our managed security clients.
Education
Cybersecurity starts with education. This might sound redundant, but one of the first things we do with a new security client is take them through security education practices. We offer training for all of your employees to make sure they understand the fundamentals of a robust security posture.
It turns out that most security breaches at companies large and small occur because of human mistakes. Employees who aren’t properly educated might unknowingly engage in risky behaviors that can be exploited by cyber attacks.
While our education efforts are more extensive than what can fit on this page, we can boil cybersecurity education down to a few key points:
- Use long, complicated passwords.
- Segregate networks.
- Back up everything. Even your backups.
- Never click a link you didn’t ask for.
- Never give out username and password information (or account numbers).
- When in doubt, ask an expert.
These simple rules can prevent a lot of issues, but with more extensive education, you can make sure that everyone on the team knows how to identify common threats and work with your IT resources to keep everyone safe.
Phishing
Phishing is the practice of tricking people into giving up security credentials or other important, privileged information. As an example, an attacker could send you a bogus email pretending to be your internet service provider, claiming that they need you to confirm your account so they can perform some critical service. You type in your username and password, and they now have that information and can use it against you.
The reason we discuss phishing separately is because this isn’t something that can be solved with better technology. It has to do with education and user behavior. Everyone on the team has to understand how phishing works and why it matters.
When you know how to spot phishing, and when your standard practice is to never give out credentials, the vast majority of phishing risks go away.
Staying Proactive
Thinking about cybersecurity can be stressful. It feels like you’re just out there, waiting for an attack to happen — kind of like dangling your feet in shark-infested waters.
That’s not entirely wrong, but with support, you can ease this tension and take effective action.
As long as you understand the urgency at hand, you can protect your business. In case it’s not obvious, cyber attacks are expensive. Ransomware attacks can shut your business down completely for days (or longer), even when you have a good recovery plan. Data breaches often make you liable for damages. Other attacks have their own costs.
There is a sense of urgency. It is important to stay on top of cybersecurity.
But, you have resources available. Whether you opt into managed security services or just take the time to educate yourself and your staff, you can get ahead of the problems that plague so many businesses. When you do, you’re no longer dangling your feet in dangerous waters. You can enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing you’re taking the right steps. And, even if an attack does come, you invested in disaster recovery, so your business can rebound as quickly as possible.
Awareness is the first step. If you think you’re ready for the next step, contact Acropolis today. We can discuss security options to ensure that your business has the protection it needs.