Cyberattacks are on a rise and many businesses that were not prepared for them before really need to be now, as they were forced into remote working this year, which effectively leaves them wide open. Cybersecurity is important more than ever. On tomsdailynews you can stay up to date with the latest news. So, now more than ever businesses need to educate their workforce on cybersecurity and protect themselves against increasingly smart and sophisticated cyberattacks.

 

Here are a few basics they might want to consider.

Regular checks and assessments – Building a decent defense means first knowing exactly where your current capabilities stand. You should be making regular cybersecurity assessments to expose weaknesses and amplify strengths.

Staff training – All employees should be given thorough training, as you’re only as strong as your most ill-equipped employee. Anyone working online could potentially leave you open for an attack. Whether that’s an employee falling for a phishing email scam and opening up the entire network to attack or someone who used the same simple password for everything.

Update software whenever possible – All software used by your business should always be updated to the latest version. The older the version, the more likely it’s going to be open to exploitation. You should be checking for software updates at least every two weeks as patches and updates are far more common now than in years past. They need to be in order to keep up with the increasingly clever criminals.

Have a plan of action in case of attacks – Your incident response team and plans should be beyond reproach. This means deciding who in the team is going  to take charge of each escalation point and everyone in the team know what steps need to be taken in the event of a breach.

Be vigilant – Attacks can happen anytime and they can come from anywhere. This is why 24/7 cybersecurity monitoring software can be so powerful and so useful. According to commercial finance experts Nucleus, even a mild cyber attack can end up costing your businesses in the multiple thousands, so no expense should be spared!

Use filters – Emails remain the most common entry point for attacks and those emails are getting more convincing every day. By putting an advanced spam filter on your email client, you won’t get rid of all the phishing emails but you’ll put a good dent in them.

Limit access to the important stuff – Of course, all employees should be brought on board regarding your cybersecurity procedures but that doesn’t mean you should trust them 100%, particularly if they’ve just been brought on board. When it comes to the most important data, limit access at first to only those in your team you are sure you can trust. To do otherwise is essentially human error.