The number of companies that fall victim to cyber-attacks steadily increases every year. Reports suggests that 64% of companies worldwide have experience at least one form of cyberattack in the past year. The pandemic has also revealed an increase in hacked and breached data, with remote workers causing a security breach in 20% of organizations.
While falling victim to such attacks is not necessarily in direct correlation with an organization’s lack of security, there are ways to improve organizational and individual habits to help bolster security and significantly lower risk. In this Blog, we have outlined six ways to reduce the risk of cyber-attacks.
Download Discernment
Downloading files from the internet without verifying their sources can expose devices to many types of security risks. Some of the common types of malwares encountered after downloading files from untrustworthy sources includes Ransomware, Adware and Scareware.It is always important to verify sources and avoid unnecessary downloads to lower your device susceptibility from malware.
Strong Passwords
Using good password hygiene is key to protecting against a variety of hacks. It's been reported that 63% of all organizational internal data breach is a result of compromised usernames and passwords.
Setting strong and unpredictable password using random strings letters and special characters for each account, changing the passwords on a regular basis and not writing them down or sharing them with colleagues is a practical way to protect company data.
This can all be easily and securely done by using a reputable password manager that stores and generates encrypted passwords.
Software Updates
While software updates are often free, like those that are regularly provided by Microsoft, end users may ignore or postpone installing those updates due to busy schedules. Software companies are continually providing these patches to make their products more secure, and not installing them can make devices highly vulnerable to an attack, so don’t make a habit out of skipping them.
Reduce Data Transfer
As the number of employees who work remotely continues to increase, transferring data from business devices to other devices is inevitable. While it may appear secure, keeping work data on external or personal devices may expose your data to hackers. Partnering or consulting with an experienced cybersecurity provider will help determine devices or endpoints that are exposed and how to better secure them.
Monitor Data Leakage
Data leaks that compromise sensitive or proprietary data can be incredibly damaging to a company’s reputation. There are a variety of ways that data leaks can occur, including, but not limited to:
Sharing internal data with vendors who have risky security practices
Saving information on unsecured devices
Transmitting data over an unsecured Wi-Fi
Retaining a professional cybersecurity team to regularly monitor where data resides and identifying and mitigating existing leaks will help you to lower the risk of data exfiltration.
Develop a Breach Response Plan
Breaches can still happen for companies with security checkpoints and security guards. Establishing an incident management plan helps any type of organization determine how to respond in a real-life scenario and how to contain the damage.
Interested in learning more? Reach out to one of MRBSecure’s cybersecurity and information security experts today, by clicking here
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