An alarming increase in cyberattacks on businesses have forced the security community to take note of emerging threats and risks. While new privacy & data protection laws have made compliance mandatory, businesses are still suffering because of hackers and cybercriminals. Truth be told, both small and large organizations have faced security breaches, data thefts, and other kinds of attacks. The consequences can be severe, starting from financial losses, to damage to reputation and compliance issues. Every company should prepare for hackers, trying to protect IT & network resources in all ways possible.
In this post, we are discussing cybersecurity measures that every organization must adopt.
- Discuss password protection measures
Hackers often don’t need a lot of experience to hack into devices, networks and resources, by using weak or default passwords. Make sure all default usernames and passwords are changed immediately, and discuss password protection measures with your employees. Are they using strong passwords? Are employees using the same password for different accounts? Do they use a password manager? For privilege accounts and selected users, is the company deploying multifactor authentication? These questions must be answered.
- Talk of cyber threats
There are various kinds of cyber threats and risks looming large over businesses. For instance, many hackers are now sending these emails, where they claim to have hacked data from websites and networks and threat to publish them online. These are often just threats, with no validation, but the hacker may get away with a ransom by just instilling fear. It is important for organizations to focus on cyber threats and share the same with employees, so they are aware of the ways in which criminals and hackers can target them. Discuss things like social engineering and phishing scams.
- Hire ethical hackers
Many big companies are running bug bounty programs, and it doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. The idea is to use the services of ethical hackers to find flaws within the security measures. These hackers can help by ‘hacking’ into systems, devices, and networks, with permission, so that your organization can fix the vulnerabilities, before real hackers do the same. There are companies that deal in cybersecurity and can hire ethical hackers or run & manage a bug bounty program on behalf of your business.
There is no straightforward way to mitigate all cybersecurity risks, but being proactive definitely helps in keeping hackers at bay. Get the entire organization involved in cybersecurity.