Data breaches, malware, and verifiable acts of espionage are among the most concerning issues stressing the mindsets of IT professionals in every industry these days. With concerns of foreign influence altering recent election results and numerous data breaches being announced to the general public, it’s an entirely justifiable attitude to have.
Addressing cyber security from the ground up may be the best approach to tackling the larger issue. Therefore, it’s necessary to inform all your employees of the most current and effective precautions to secure your company’s data and network. Consider the following three cyber security tips for the best results:
Suspicious Minds
When it comes to cybersecurity these days, it’s simply better to be safe than sorry. Preach a suspicious mind to your employees when handling any outsider interaction asking for company information of any kind. Everyone in the organization should handle seemingly innocuous phone calls, emails, and requests on social media with great care. Also, it’s beneficial to educate your employees on what these kinds of attacks might look like. You can even send fake phishing emails as a way of driving home the point to not click on any URLs embedded in emails you may not know the origin of.
Password Protection
This one is at the top of the list of cyber security recommendations every year, but it continues to elude many careless users. Advise employees to keep their passwords complex. Don’t just make them birthdays, children’s names, or other things that are easy for mere acquaintances to hack into. There are many good free apps available for people to keep a log of current passwords, allowing employees to track and record multiple complex and lengthy passwords.
Open Lines of Communication
If a breach, hack, or virus breaks through to your network, ensure that there is a quick and effective way to spread the word to all employees. This will implement a form of damage control by minimizing the attack surface as quickly as possible.
Cyber security is becoming a larger issue every day with the ever expanding Internet of Things (IOT) increasing the number of connected devices all over the world. The companies with the least amount of incidents moving forward into the next generation of IT will be the companies that are most up to date with strategies to prevent an attack in the first place.