In the past few years, the practice of monitoring personal property via software applications has grown dramatically. Most of us know what a “Ring” doorbell is. Many young parents check on their preschool children in daycare centers via video, right from their mobile phones. The benefits are numerous, not the least of which is the peace of mind that these applications offer. Being sure things are not out of sight and out of mind is a big plus for our personal family and property security.
Few have taken this personal approach to security and applied it to the protection of their organization. But there are numerous ways to keep the cybercriminals at bay. These hackers lurk in the skunkworks of the Internet (the Dark Web) and prefer to do their work without anyone knowing. That is why the best way to protect yourself is to keep the bad guys in your sights—just like you would with a Ring doorbell. This is especially important for smaller organizations because cybercriminals look to take advantage of them, assuming they have fewer IT security resources than their larger counterparts.
Make Cybersecurity Your #1 Priority
Here are a few ways to protect your organization:
Dark Web Monitoring: This service is available to any organization with a domain. It monitors any information about the organization that is available for sale to other criminals on the Dark Web. This includes email addresses, user IDs, passwords, credentials, phone and account numbers, credit card information, etc. Businesses of all types can benefit from this because as soon as your information is available on the Dark Web, you will be notified. The next step is to change all passwords and credentials so the information that is available is now useless. Knowledge is power…and seeing what is obtainable and rendering it inert puts you in charge.
Encryption: Data encryption translates data into another form, or code, so that only those with access to a secret key can access it. Important data of any kind on your server, in your cloud applications, in your emails, etc. should be encrypted. This ensures your data is out of sight to the bad guys. Putting encryption policies in place reduces security risks and facilitates your organization in being compliant to legal and trade mandates and guidelines.
Staff Security Awareness and Training: There is nothing more important than keeping your eyes on the prize and focusing on keeping your data secure! This is why we emphasize that your staff is the real key to your information and data security. Employees who have security top of mind know what to look for and are aware of what to do when presented with malicious emails, ads or contacts (even via phone and in person). They provide the business manager with an extra level of security that is invaluable. Security training and testing programs are the way to make this happen. They help each organization to heighten awareness, protect assets, reduce risks, and stay compliant. The ongoing training/testing schedule ensures staff are up to date with the latest risks (hackers have moved far beyond ransomware and into social media, direct phone, and physical attacks) and helps identify those employees that need reinforcement from time to time. Making your staff real-time monitors of your security perimeter pays huge dividends in the end.
Our advice is not to put your head in the sand and pretend that your business and its data are not being targeted by cybercriminals…because you are. Now’s the time to get “visual” and “see” security as your #1 mission.
Need help getting started? Contact us today! We’re here to help keep cybercriminals in your sight!
First published in our October 2020 IT Radix Resource newsletter
