Type ‘cyber security’ into Google and you’ll get over 44 million results. If you’re reading this article in six months time, that figure will have undoubtedly risen.
As a business, can you answer these questions with confidence:
- Have you assigned appropriate access levels and authority to restrict data and applications to the right people?
- Can you create permission reports that tell you which devices and staff have access to data and applications?
- Are the connections you use to access online services protected against unauthorised users, malware and other risks?
- Are your data and applications password protected and are your employees using sufficiently strong passwords?
- Do you use automated backup programs for data protection, rather than random and irregular manual back ups?
- If regulators arrived at your door today, are you confident you comply with legal and regulatory mandates for your data?
If your staff are using Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) make sure you have Mobile Device Management (MDM) which will give you:
- Enhanced endpoint security
- Secure & protected devices in the workplace
- Regulated devices & the data they have access to
If you want to mitigate against ‘backdoor’ vulnerabilities make sure you:
- Maintain a clean & current machine
- Have firewalls
- Have network monitoring
- Have anti-virus or anti-malware
- Have Remote Monitoring & Management (RMM)
If you have staff with privileged access you need to make sure you have:
- Established appropriate levels of access
- Train & educate employees
- Enforce layered passwords
You need to make sure you have a Backup & Disaster Recovery Plan which gives you:
- Data security & reliability
- Automated backup solution that is always at work
- Essential data can be quickly and properly recovered in the event of downtime or a disaster
- Ultimate failsafe against ransomware & data loss
Both your staff and your business needs to be certified and trained in cyber security, such as:
- Cyber Essentials
- Cyber Essentials +
- IASME (which includes GDPR)
- Cyber security training
Today, cyber criminals will use any means necessary to find vulnerabilities and exploit them. Now, more than ever, businesses need to partner with an IT provider who can cover all of their needs, keeping them protected against the growing threat landscape.
