It’s a given these days that your company needs to have an online presence. That’s true regardless of its size, or your business model’s particulars. When you go online, you have more chance of reaching people, some of whom will doubtless become your customers.
Many company owners or operators have serious cyber security concerns and with good reason. You often hear about company websites getting hacked.
Some hackers might do it for financial reasons, like blackmailing the company. Others try to steal sensitive employee or customer data. Still, others are anarchists who want to take down significant company websites because they don’t agree with their business models or goals.
Whatever the case might be, you must watch out for these cybercriminals. Here are some ways you can do that.
Back Up Your Data Regularly
As you set up your business’s network, you’ll have a lot to consider. You might be thinking about improving network visibility for IT teams. You might be trying to decide between SaaS and in-office servers.
Regardless, you need to remember that:
- Backing up your data regularly is critical.
- Regular backups can keep you safe from any potential ransomware attacks.
You might choose to back up your network data every week or even every couple of days. Ransomware is how you can lose company file access. Backing everything up periodically is one of the most effective ways of combating it.
It’s your organization’s proactive continuity plan.
A Sensible Password Policy
You should also have a robust password and rotation strategy. Passwords:
- Are a vital aspect of computer security.
- Are something to which every company needs to pay close attention.
You need to meet with your employees to talk about network passwords, either in-person or through Zoom or a similar service, if you can’t meet face-to-face at the moment. Talk to them about strong network passwords and changing them frequently.
This is another necessary step that can deter hackers from trying to get at your company’s sensitive employee or customer data.
Two-Factor User Authentication
You should also have a two-factor user authentication method for all of your employees. Determining who they are so that they can access your network is something that a hacker might achieve with a single authorization factor.
If you have two methods of identifying each employee as they get on your network, that’s going to be advantageous for security purposes. They might use an employee ID, their birthdate, their last four Social Security number digits, etc.
Excellent Web-Filtering Technology
You can also use superior web-filtering tech for real-time URL monitoring. You can use it to monitor what content your employees access and view as well.
You should use filters to block undesired access. You can also uphold network user permissions this way.
One additional perk when you use this type of tech is that you can keep your employees from accessing undesired content. You don’t want your workers playing online poker in the middle of a workday.
Malware and Antivirus Protection
You can also preserve your network’s integrity when you install and use robust antivirus and malware protection. Antivirus software goes to work scanning the files you and your employees open. This gives you real-time protection throughout the workday.
If you want to keep your malware and antivirus protection as effective as possible, you’ll need to update it frequently. New malware and viruses emerge all the time, and you need the latest protective software to keep it at bay.
You Must Have a Business-Class NSA
An NSA is a network security appliance. Yours should be business-class. That means it should be like a guardian at your network’s gate.
Its job is to control all the data that flows in and out of your network. You should have a firewall as well. These are both essential components of keeping your system secure from intruders.
Cybersecurity Training
One last thing you should do is have regular cybersecurity training for all of your employees, from the top down. It’s not easy to get people together to do it during the pandemic, but you can have online training sessions.
Hire a cybersecurity expert, and have them talk to your employees about all the points we mentioned in this article. Have them explain how the most common network breaches occur. Often, it’s a simple matter of one of your employees clicking on the wrong link or opening a shady-looking file attachment.
If you do everything we mentioned, you should be able to thwart the majority of cybercriminals.
