Owning a business in a digital age comes with advantages as well as perils. The ability to instantly communicate and share information across cyber channels is invariably tied to some risk. Cybercriminals are constantly developing new ways to steal digital information and use it for their gain. If ill-intentioned individuals successfully circumvent your security measures, they can steal confidential information and use it to exploit you or your customers.
To avoid becoming a victim of a digital crime, you must be proactive about your cyber security approach. It’s not enough to simply install some security software and call it good. You must make your business so difficult to breach that criminals will give up and look elsewhere for an easier target. You also need to build resilience so you can quickly recover if your data is breached.
Here are five practices for strengthening your cyber resilience strategy, starting today.
1. Control What Software Can Run on Your Systems With Application Allowlisting
Application allowlisting (also known as application control) is a foundational security control strategy that protects your company from harmful security attacks. With this strategy, you create a list of approved applications that are allowed to run on your systems. In this way, organizations can ensure that employees can only open and use files and applications from trusted sources.
Application allowlisting prevents malicious or unauthorized code from executing within your company’s network. This tool is especially effective in preventing ransomware, malware, and other executable-based cyberattacks. If you aren’t currently using application allowlisting, consider implementing it as soon as possible to make your company more resilient to attackers.
2. Conduct Regular Security Audits
Regular security audits are a key component of any successful cyber resilience strategy. A lot of people tense up when they hear the word “audit.” It’s natural to feel a little stressed about an upcoming audit, especially if a negative outcome may reflect badly on you. However, you should learn to embrace security audits because they can uncover extremely important information. Their primary purpose is to reveal crucial details about weaknesses that could make your organization vulnerable to cyberattacks.
After receiving an in-depth evaluation of an organization’s cyber defenses, you’ll be empowered to make positive changes. Regular vulnerability assessments aren’t meant to embarrass or demean you. Instead, they make it possible for you to address vulnerabilities before they’re exploited by attackers.
A proactive approach to analyzing and improving your cyber defenses can save you time, money, and stress when compared to a reactive approach.
3. Prioritize Employee Cyber-Threat Awareness and Training
If your employees don’t know how to protect themselves against modern cyberattacks, it doesn’t matter how good your security processes are. Human error is one of the weakest links in any organization’s cyber defense strategy. That’s why it’s essential to prioritize employee cyber-threat awareness and training. Implement a cybersecurity awareness program with the help of your IT department. Teach all current employees and new hires how to recognize and avoid falling for common attack methods.
Your cybersecurity awareness and training program should instruct employees on how to recognize and avoid some of the most common attacks. Examples include phishing emails, hyperlinked text within emails, malware from malicious attachments, and online scams. Teach them the importance of reporting suspected attacks or malicious communications to the IT department immediately.
If possible, hold cybersecurity employee training at least once every six months to ensure employees are always aware of the latest criminal tactics.
4. Use Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is an electronic sign-in method that requires the user to confirm their identity using two or more separate credentials. For example, the person trying to log in might first enter a username and password. Then, they might be required to use a security token before obtaining access to the document or system in question.
MFA is one of the simplest ways to discourage cybercriminals from logging into sensitive systems. Even if a criminal manages to guess or purchase a password on the black market, they’re unlikely to know or have access to the second form of authentication. In the event that an employee’s credentials are compromised, you can still significantly reduce unauthorized access to sensitive information if you use MFA company-wide.
5. Put Backup and Recovery Systems in Place
Despite your best efforts, you may still end up experiencing a data breach of some sort. Unfortunately, no security system is impervious to the most advanced cyberattacks. Ensuring you have a robust backup and recovery system in place can help you bounce back quickly after a breach. Some experts recommend the 3-2-1 backup strategy to ensure your data is easily recoverable if compromised by a hacker.
Here are the essential components of a 3-2-1 strategy for backing up important data:
- Keep three copies of your data (two duplicates and one original). That way, you’ll still be covered if the original and one of the backup options are stolen, lost, or corrupted.
- Use two different types of media for data storage (such as an external hard drive and the cloud). This will ensure you can always access your data on at least one of the media types in case the other becomes corrupted or obsolete.
- Store one copy of your data away from your business in case the original, on-site copy is destroyed. If you use the cloud, this is where you’ll store your off-site copy.
You can also use data backup software to help you quickly recover critical data after a breach. Regularly test your data backup and recovery plan or software to ensure it will work as expected when you need it the most.
As a business owner, it’s imperative that you protect your data and address vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity threats aren’t going away anytime soon, but if you adequately protect yourself against them, you’re less likely to become a victim. Consider implementing these essential practices to strengthen your cyber resilience strategy and protect your critical systems.