[BreachExchange] How to Protect Business from Cyber Attacks

[Audrey McNeil]

http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/marketing-strategies/how-to-
protect-business-from-cyber-attacks-78467

As time passes by, we are all becoming more dependent on Internet
technologies. This applies to individuals as well as businesses. While the
Internet makes a lot of things easier for organizations, it presents
certain security traits. Yes, I am referring to cyber-attacks that might
result in data theft, ransom demands, or a website shutdown.

All of these have severe consequences on the business and, very often,
these may cause an organization to shut their doors permanently. Since
cyber-attacks and cyber-criminals are our reality, organizations have to do
all that’s in their power to protect themselves from this type of
intrusion. Here are 5 ways a business can protect itself from cyber-attacks.

Get Familiarized with the Risks

In order to know what to do, you have to identify the weak spots, targets,
and common entry points of cyber criminals. Let’s get one thing straight
right at the start. If cyber criminals are not in to steal your data, they
are there to either delete it or encrypt it in order to make ransom
demands. So, your data keeping policies are something definitely worth
revisiting.

These attacks are made via the Internet or by stealing IT equipment from
your offices. This is why you should assess your current hardware security,
office security, and internet security policies. Here is how you can
minimize the risks.

Update your Software and Hardware

The software organizations are using is crucial for their success. This is
why your business should always look for better software solutions. How do
you know that you are using good software? If it is being regularly updated
by the developer to fix bugs, security issues, and vulnerability issues,
this means that it is good.

While the software developers are doing everything they can to protect
their clients from cyber-attacks, you, on the other hand, have to install
updates whenever they are released. This way, you will have up-to-date
software in your organization, thus minimizing the risk of getting hacked
via this channel.

If you are using servers in your organization, make sure to always use the
most recent version of firewall and antivirus systems. This practice will
significantly reduce the possibility of you being hacked.

Keep the Data in the Cloud

Keeping all the data in house puts a target sign on your company. This
practice makes your data vulnerable because it is centralized. This is also
an unsafe practice when it comes to disasters and unforeseen events. You
should definitely abandon this and move your data to the cloud.

Cloud storage providers can give you something for a fraction of the price
that would otherwise cost you a lot. This is cloud cybersecurity. These are
big companies with big clients and they don’t want to risk anything. This
is why they always have top-notch security systems installed. By storing
your data on their cloud, you will make sure that it is protected by the
best security software there is.

Besides, when your data is in the cloud, you won’t have to worry about
backing it up, as it will be safe and sound on the server of your cloud
service providers.

Encrypt the Data

When it comes to businesses, there is no differentiation between important,
less important, and unimportant data. All business data is important data.
This is why you want to make sure to take measures to protect it further.
Have you ever considered encrypting it?

Every operating system has an option that allows users to encrypt the data.
By doing so, you will make all of the information on the hard drives safe
and useless to anyone outside the office. In order to even further increase
the level of protection, make sure that your employees have to log in, in
order to access computers and to set up your computers to automatically
logout users after being inactive for more than 10 minutes.

Invest in IT Support

There are a lot of small and medium sized businesses who do not have the
budget that can withstand a full time IT specialist, let alone an entire IT
support department. Without IT support and protection against cyber
threats, these establishments become favorite targets for cyber criminals.
If this is the case with you, you should consider outsourcing your business
Internet security tasks to a renowned IT support company.

These companies have extended experience when it comes to cyber threats and
security. They will assess your current situation and build a
custom-tailored defense system to meet your business’s unique needs and
requirements.

Instead of investing a lot into infrastructure and hiring a full time IT
specialist, business can now tap into the power and experience the benefits
of having experienced professionals do the IT security job for them.

These were the five ways to protect your business from cyber-attacks.
Sadly, we have reached that point in time when cyber-attacks are not
something that happens from time to time. It is an hour-to-hour threat that
should not be taken lightly. By taking any of these four security tips, you
will protect your business and minimize the risk of experiencing an IT
security breach.
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