Cyber security: Best practices to protect your organization
What Is a Cyber Security Threat?
A cybersecurity threat is any potential malicious attempt to steal data or disrupt computer systems, networks, or assets, typically through unauthorized access. These threats can include ransomware, viruses, phishing attacks, insider threats, and data theft, and they have the potential to halt operations or even shut down entire organizations. To mitigate the impact of such attacks, it’s crucial to understand how to protect your systems and implement strong backup and remediation plans to minimize damage in case of an attack.
Here are some key practices for safeguarding your systems, software, and valuable data:
1) Regularly Update Systems
Businesses should keep their software and applications up to date, as most updates include critical security patches. Cybersecurity breaches often occur due to vulnerabilities that could have been resolved through timely updates. Many attacks target large systems, such as browsers and data storage centers, making regular updates essential.
Besides addressing security gaps, updates also introduce new features and improve system stability. While updating large systems may temporarily disrupt operations, it is crucial for long-term security and functionality.
2) Be Cautious of Suspicious Links and Emails
Phishing has been around since the early days of the internet and has evolved from targeting individuals to large organizations. Suspicious links in emails or browsers are often Trojan horses carrying viruses or malware. Malicious code can also be embedded in websites that redirect users to another site, leading to automatic malware downloads.
Modern phishing attacks are more sophisticated, often relying on social engineering to trick people into revealing sensitive information like social security numbers or passwords. Malware such as keyloggers can lie dormant in systems for long periods before executing an attack, making it hard to trace the source.
To stay protected, regularly test your systems, especially after interacting with suspicious content. Watch for sudden issues like malfunctioning webcams or overheating batteries, which can be signs of hidden malware.
3) Use Strong Passwords and Enable User Authentication
Despite the rise of new cyber threats, traditional security measures remain highly effective in protecting organizations.
Firewalls and password protection serve as the first line of defense for computer systems. It’s important for companies to ensure that employees use strong passwords, especially for administrative access to sensitive data. Additionally, employing Multifactor Authentication (MFA) for systems, applications, and devices adds an extra layer of security.
A good practice is to register at least two devices for MFA, allowing remote data erasure if one is lost and using the other device for authentication. However, MFA alone may not prevent phishing attacks that direct users to fake login pages. Therefore, it's crucial to train employees on social engineering tactics to help them recognize and avoid these scams.
4) Secure Your Network Connections
Regardless of an organization’s size, an unstable or unsecured network puts both system security and client privacy at risk. A notable example is the 2011 Citigroup security breach, which affected thousands of U.S. customers. Having a strong, well-guarded network is vital to any cybersecurity strategy, as secure connections are key to maintaining a robust cybersecurity posture.
Network security infrastructure provides multiple layers of defense, helping to prevent attacks like Man-in-the-Middle (MiM) by breaking data into separate, encrypted pieces and transmitting them through different paths. This reduces the risk of malicious activities, such as keylogging.
Poor network security can also lead to the theft of intellectual property, with attackers potentially stealing valuable plans or blueprints, hindering a company's ability to innovate. Additionally, file sharing poses risks, as malware from phishing schemes could be unknowingly uploaded and spread through shared files. Using services with end-to-end encryption is crucial to protecting sensitive data from hackers and unauthorized viewing.
Regularly reviewing permission settings and conducting audits to track who has access to sensitive files are simple yet effective ways to prevent unauthorized access.
5) Activate Firewall Protection at Work and Home
Firewalls are essential for protecting against external cybersecurity threats. They help block spyware, reduce spam, and deter hackers. Investing in a quality firewall and keeping it updated is crucial for any business. While business-grade firewalls offer stronger protection, they may come at a higher cost, but the added security from potential intruders is worth the investment.
6) Backup Critical Data
Keeping a separate copy of important data on a different medium is essential for protection against data loss or corruption. This could be as simple as using an external drive or USB stick or more advanced options like a disk storage system or cloud storage. The backup can be stored either locally or at a remote location.
The goal of backing up data is to ensure you have a reliable copy in case the original data is compromised. It’s a crucial safeguard against issues such as accidental deletion, corruption, or damage caused by cyberattacks.
Regularly testing the backup solution is important to ensure that critical data can be restored and its functionality verified in a recovery scenario. Given the increasing frequency and complexity of cyberattacks, having dependable backups can prevent data loss or the need to pay a ransom if an attack compromises the primary system, saving organizations from significant damage.
7) Establish Proper User Access Controls
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is a highly effective way to prevent unauthorized access to sensitive information. For the most secure sign-ins, companies can combine various authentication methods, such as biometrics, SMS codes, emails, and security questions. Adding extra layers of protection, like text or email verification and time-based security codes, further strengthens access security.
8) Promote Employee Education and Training
A joint study by Stanford University and security firm Tessian found that around 88% of cybersecurity incidents are caused by human error. Even the most advanced security systems can’t prevent breaches if employees make mistakes.
Therefore, it’s crucial that everyone in an organization understands cybersecurity best practices. Employees should be trained to identify social engineering tactics, phishing attempts, and other threats, as well as stay receptive to regular system updates. While cybersecurity training may seem time-consuming or resource-intensive, it can ultimately save organizations from severe damage in the future.
Ardent Privacy’s Role in Protecting Your Data against Cyber Security Threats
Ardent’s mission is to help enterprises implement meaningful security and privacy programs aligned to their business mission, building trust and protecting data assets. Ardent’s technology "TurtleShield" is a holistic software platform that empowers enterprise security, legal, and data teams to implement and manage data privacy within the organizations with rapid data asset visibility and actions to enable privacy compliance, govern AI risk, meaningful data protection, and reduce cost of compliance and data breaches.
Here’s how Ardent Privacy plays a crucial role in data protection:
1) Data Minimization and Discovery:
Ardent Privacy's solutions focus on data minimization, which means they help organizations identify and remove redundant, obsolete, and trivial data (ROT data). Reducing the amount of unnecessary data minimizes the risk surface and helps limit exposure to data breaches. This also ensures that companies only retain necessary data, reducing the impact of cybersecurity threats.
Our tool offers automation for privacy management, enabling businesses to handle vast amounts of personal data and sensitive information more effectively. Automated systems reduce the chance of human error and ensure compliance with data privacy regulations, thus decreasing potential vulnerabilities.
3) AI-Powered Data Privacy:
Ardent Privacy uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect sensitive data across an organization’s systems. By using intelligent algorithms, they can help predict and identify areas of risk, enabling timely action before cyber threats exploit vulnerabilities.
4) Data Anonymization and Encryption:
Ardent offers data anonymization and encryption technologies that protect sensitive data even if a breach occurs. This makes data unintelligible to attackers, further limiting the damage caused by unauthorized access.
5) Risk Assessment and Analytics:
Our tool provides robust data protection insights and risk assessment tools. These tools monitor an organization’s data systems for vulnerabilities and provide real-time alerts about potential risks or compliance violations, enabling businesses to respond quickly to emerging threats.
6) Regulatory Compliance:
Ardent Privacy ensures organizations comply with international privacy laws, such as the DPDPA, GDPR and CCPA. By ensuring that data is managed in accordance with these regulations, they help reduce the risk of heavy penalties that could result from non-compliance, while also protecting data integrity.
7) End-to-End Data Security:
By offering end-to-end data protection—from collection to storage and eventual deletion—Ardent Privacy’s solutions help secure data at every stage of its lifecycle. This holistic approach reduces the opportunities for cyberattacks, ensuring that sensitive information is less likely to be exposed. Through these measures, Ardent Privacy plays an essential role in helping organizations safeguard their data against cyber threats, reduce exposure to data breaches, and ensure compliance with the latest data privacy regulations.
Conclusion
As cyberattacks and threats continue to evolve, driven by trends like cloud adoption, remote work, and BYOD practices, the need for strong cybersecurity measures is more critical than ever. Cybercriminals have become highly organized, even offering services like ransomware-as-a-service.
In today’s landscape, protecting your business requires following cybersecurity best practices, including securing devices and networks, monitoring systems, backing up data, encrypting sensitive files, and training employees to adhere to security protocols. The role of cybersecurity consultants is essential in implementing and maintaining these defenses.