Data is more than just an assortment of letters and numbers that means little to people outside an organization. It represents the hard work of the business, trust given by customers to business owners, and most importantly, it is a facet of an organization’s integrity. Compromization over such potential cyberattacks can lead to downfall of information security.
How To Fortify Information Security?
Restrict Data Access
Who access what, and why? Undue access to business data by employees poses a risk because it is hard to discern the purpose – other than to assume that employees do so due to work. Not every employer knows the background and work history of each employees.
To prevent unwanted data theft, employees’ access to data must be limited. Employees should only be given access to what they need in regards to their job duties, period. This can help to reduce the risk of data loss due to corporate espionage as well.
Develop a security plan
What should be done if something went awry? Accidents don’t wait for you to happen, therefore, you should stay prepared for the worst imaginable. Businesses should develop cyber-risk management plan and recovery plan to prevent cyberattacks. It would also help to identify vulnerabilities that requires cybersecurity fortification as well as checklist to monitor periodically for maintenance of protection.
Examine IT infrastructure security readiness
Breach and Attack Simulation (BAS) is a viable method to test the overall preparedness of organizations and employees. This can be a part of post-cybersecurity implementation exercise to determine whether the strategies actually work. Pentesting (also known as ethical hacking) can be employed to uncover oversights of IT infrastructure security. Lessons learned from episodes of pentesting can be applied to reinforce and repair vulnerabilities. It permits one to think as cybersecurity specialist and cyber criminal simultaneously to see perspectives from two view points.
Regular Data Backup and Update
Any incidents pertaining cyberattacks leave behind a trajectory of damages – reputation, financial, and more. However, the bitterness of such incidents continue to persist for most businesses due to loss of data. Data stolen or destroyed cannot be recovered. Therefore, business owners to plan ahead and require employees to conduct data backup regularly. Developing a good habit may not be sufficient. Every PC and smartphones of the company should also be installed with anti-virus and anti-malware softwares for added layers of protection.
Raising Cybersecurity Awareness Through Training
Cybersecurity culture is instrumental to cultivate good practices of information security. It won’t matter if the business invest in high end IT security if the human errors continue to jeopardize every initiatives. Simple habits such as regular change of passwords can increase the complexity of data protection.
Surely, building a cybersecurity-aware team of employees will have them do more than changing passwords frequently alone. Businesses should conduct regular training to help employees become familiarized with good practices of information security. Slowly but surely, simple exercises they learned will become habitual, and help to keep a cybersecurity culture alive.
Don’t Be A Victim of Cyberattacks. Prevention Begins With Good Training.
