Business need to understand what cybersecurity is and why they need it. It is very important in today's digital world. If you don't practice it in your business. You could end up becoming the victim of a cyber-crime.
Your business is your castle
It is best to build IT security in layers. It involves several systems that come together in order to keep them as safe as possible. You must treat your business as your Castle. Know that no system is 100 percent secure. You want to mitigate the attack as much as possible and recover as fast as you can
Smaller Businesses
As a business. You may think your small and that you don't need cybersecurity. This attitude has to change. It is no longer the bigger businesses they are after. Everyone is a target. Where there is money to be made. There will be criminals looking to compromise systems that everyone uses. The cyber crime industry is a billion dollar industry and is continuing to grow.
User training
One of the most effective methods of an attack is social engineering. It is much harder for criminals to hack systems and easier to exploit people. You and your employees need to learn what methods of attack are out there. It is important to learn how to identify phishing and not fall for scams.
What firewalls do
They monitor and control incoming and outgoing network traffic. They must be maintained and kept up to date. Open the ports that you only need. Ports that are no longer used should be closed. They generate logs if you ever need to troubleshoot or investigate a security event.
The need for backups
A company without backups is a disaster waiting to happen. You need to have a backup plan when disaster strikes. If you end up being a victim of ransomware and you have no backups. Then you must pay and pray to recover your data. You could also lose data if hardware crashes. It is very important to keep backups and make sure that they are being tested and maintained.
Smart antivirus with AI
We always see this question. What is the best antivirus to use? It is time to start using ones that have machine learning and AI capabilities. The old model is signature based. What that means is they must wait for a number of systems to be infected in order to know that the virus exists. Then it gets added to a database. It will then be pushed as an update. That model is simply not effective for today's threats. You need an antivirus that can see behavior and detect things before they become an issue. It is still a new technology. They are starting to catch on and will be the future of antiviruses.
Out of date systems
Using out of date technology is a security risk. Having old operating systems, routers, switches, servers and computers that have never been updated can be a risk. These systems are what allow you to operate your business. If you don't maintain them. An attacker can gain access and cause downtime. This is why it's very important that these systems be maintained and kept up to date.
Data is important
It is the lifeblood of all businesses. The amount of data collected by companies is big. The loss of it can cause downtime. It can cost thousands to millions of dollars in damages for companies. It is very important that data is protected, secured and recoverable.
Physical Security
Final thoughts
Think of your business as a castle. You want to build security in layers. Your IT systems should be kept up to date. User training should be provided to be able to identify scams. Start using antiviruses with machine learning and AI capabilities. The companies data is the most valuable asset that needs to be protected. You want to have a good backup and recovery plan in case something happens.