7 Quick Ways You Can Improve Your IT Security

Robert Best\Emile Greyling

 

20% businesses reported a cyber attack or data breach in the past 12 months. That is according to the latest version of the UK Government’s Cyber Security Breaches Survey.

The study suggests that the level of cyber attacks has increased because of the effects of Covid-19. Businesses are finding it harder to implement and manage IT security as employees are working from home.

 

How can your business improve its IT security?

 

MFA and Passwords
Passwords make up the basis of your security. This chart shows the hacking speeds of password formats.

this table shows how long it will take for your password to be cracked

 

 

We recommend you aim for the high end of this table and that you prompt your staff to change them every few months.

Of course, you will struggle to remember these new complex passwords so a Password Manager is a great tool for securely storing complex passwords.

Use different passwords for each account or log in, if one account gets hacked and you use the same password then they will have access to all your accounts.

(MFA) Multi-Factor authentication acts as a fail-safe for passwords. When you login in MFA prompts you to take another action, the most common is to input a code that is sent to your mobile.

It’s a popular fail-safe you will see being used more and more.

 

Regularly Install updates.

60% of organizations that suffered a breach in the last two years had the right patches in place but couldn’t install them in time. That is according to a survey by ServiceNow.

That statistic shows how important these updates are. They are often security updates to fix vulnerabilities that have been identified by hackers.

By failing to install these updates you will leave your business exposed. Companies have struggled to regularly install updates with their staff and their devices away from the workplace.

As more businesses are allowing their staff to use their own devices for work there is a need to have a clear process for making sure any device connecting to your network is regularly installing updates.

 

Backup your data.

With the number of attacks, each business now faces you have to prepare for being hit and a big part of that is backing up your data.

Properly backed up data will help your business recover from a data breach, and the quicker you can recover that data the less damage and disruption is caused to your business.

 

Antivirus and Malware.

83 per cent of data breaches begin with a phishing email the latest Cyber Security Breaches Survey from the Government.

Anti-virus tools will help reduce the number of phishing emails that hit your inboxes. Anti-malware tools will help protect you from the malicious files in phishing emails.

They will also offer protection when employees in your business are using the internet. There are lots of different options for anti-virus and anti-malware tools with a wide range of pricing that will suit any budget.

 

Conduct annual staff awareness training.
As mentioned in the previous point phishing emails are the biggest cause of data breaches. If your employees receive phishing emails and are unable to spot that they are scams, the whole business is at risk.

Similarly, internal errors and data loss are all the result of employees not understanding their IT security obligations.

These are issues that you can’t fix with technological solutions alone. Your business must instead support your IT security efforts by conducting regular staff awareness training.

Training courses should be given to employees during their induction and then repeated annually. Your employees face potential cyber attacks every day so you need to help them understand their vital role in protecting your company.

 

Regularly review policies and procedures.
By creating policies and procedures, companies ensure that employees understand their security obligations and engrain the lessons taught during staff awareness training.

The more technical-minded policies also provide essential assistance for the security solutions offered by IT.

Technology moves quickly and so does cybercrime. You must continue to update your processes and policies to reflect that. With each vulnerability that is discovered you need to update your processes and procedures to cover that fix or change in working.

This is especially important as we continue to work from home or if your business moves to a mix of office and home working.

 

Stay informed.
Cybercrime is a big-money industry. That means that cybercriminals are extremely proactive in their methods. That is why you have to stay informed on the latest trends in IT security.

This is the case even if you outsource your IT security. Although you are not directly looking after your IT security it is the business and the business owner that is ultimately responsible.

 

Summary.
Sadly, IT security is never going to be something we can take for granted. Cybercrime has become too big of a business for it to ever go away. So businesses must continue to take their IT security seriously.

 

 

Should you need any assistance with Security or any other IT related need feel free to contact us.

 

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