Security
Powerful Strategies To Help You Keep Your Business Safe
If you’re like most business owners, you’re more focused on opportunities for growth than risks and threats to your business. You’re not being risk averse by wanting to know and protect your enterprise against risks everywhere around you. And if you don’t plan for them, your business reputation may take a hit it can not recover from.
Hackers make money stealing data so when it comes to cybersecurity, you need to take action to keep your business safe. In this business blog article, we share some simple ways to mitigate the risks of your business being attacked by cybercriminals.
How To Minimize The Threat Of Cyber Attacks
Make no mistake about it – we operate in a business world where risks are aplenty, and consequences are sharp. All it takes is one misguided step, and your organization could find itself suffering significant financial or legal consequences.
Today the most prevalent cyber risks include:
- Malware or ransomware
- Phishing
- Password attacks
- SQL injection attacks
The Internet of Things (IoT) has done a lot of good for businesses – creating opportunities to decentralize their technology and deploy more cost-effective and far-reaching strategies. But along with this fragmentation comes increased risk. Unsecured devices provide hackers with opportunities to get to access to business networks.
Rise of DDoS Attacks
In particular, we see an increased number of DDoS attacks. These attacks overwhelm the company’s firewall with thousands of smaller attacks until the defense can no longer hold up to the pressure. Then it cracks. And hackers are becoming even more creative with getting “inside.”
We see in these (DDoS) attacks that IP video Surveillance, heating and air conditioning controls, routers, and other IoT devices are being taken over and used to send these DDoS attacks.
This is done by a Mirai Bot. A Mirai Bot (server) scans the internet and looks for these devices that have not changed their default password. It then logs into those devices and takes them over.
1. Protect Devices
To prevent DDoS attacks, start with protecting devices and controlling whatever you can. For example, every business should have a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategy. It’s non-negotiable at this point. (As the saying goes, a failure to plan is a plan to fail).
The BYOD strategy should include proper device protection, password hygiene, and requirements for regular pen-testing.
2. Safeguard IP
Intellectual property (IP) is the lifeblood of most companies. If you haven’t already taken steps to protect your trademarks, ideas, and designs, now is the time to do so. The best way to protect your IP is by conducting your own trademark search before filing for registered trademarks and patents (when applicable).
While it might not be thought of as a traditional cyber-attack, having people steal your IP is a real threat with serious consequences.
Whenever you enter into a project or deal with someone – which could be another business, freelancer, or even a supplier – you need to get everything in writing. You should also be mindful of your contracts and their various clauses. In fact, just assume that anything not in writing has no legal protection or recourse. This gives you an idea of how important it is to document everything.
Verbal agreements may hold weight in your state or area, but they almost always come down to a messy confrontation. There’s no sense in risking your business so just get it in writing!
3. Train Employees
The average employee doesn’t have a very advanced understanding of cybersecurity. They might understand the importance of not downloading attachments from external email addresses and using a password to log in, but that’s about the extent of it. It’s up to you to train them.
Regular cybersecurity awareness training is a must, initially with onboarding and then refresher courses every six months. You’d be surprised how many people use common passwords that hackers use first. The list of common passwords includes:
- 12345678
- Qwerty123
- Qwerty
- ABC123
- Password
- Default
- Iloveyou
Your business can use a password manager like LastPass and recommend strong passwords that are changed every three months.
The training objectives should also include helping employees spot, report, and/or neutralize threats.
Adding It All Up
By protecting your business against the downside, you leave a lot more opportunity and space for the upside.
Shoring up your cybersecurity strategy and proactively putting the correct defenses in place today will set you up for continued success tomorrow. We have many articles on cybersecurity, scroll down and choose your next business blog post to read.
