by admin | Dec 14, 2022 | Uncategorized
SMB and Some Basic Employee Security Issues Training teams Your employees are your first line of defense. Training is a basic requirement and should be conducted for every employee. This necessitates involving Human Resources so that businesses incorporate cyber security training from the first day of onboarding. must train their employees on cybersecurity best practices and also constantly update them with information about the latest scams and techniques adopted by cybercriminals. This will help employees identify situations where they may end up becoming victims of cybercrime or unwittingly compromise the organization’s cybersecurity. Untrained employees may end up becoming unintended participants in cybercrime. BYOD Policy With remote operations becoming the norm, organizations must spell out the dos and don’ts for their employees who are using personal devices for work. While there’s not much that companies can do to monitor and restrict usage when employees use their personal devices, a broad framework of best practices will certainly help. Addressing the details of how your data is accessed remotely is a very important part of a total BYOD...
by admin | Dec 7, 2022 | Uncategorized
Cybercrime – Two basic routines to Protect Your Data Cybersecurity is certainly not something to be ignored by organizations no matter how big or small they may be in terms of client base, staff or sales revenue. This is because cybercriminals don’t discriminate when it comes to choosing their victims. While bigger organizations may be better equipped to thwart a cyberattack, smaller businesses may lack the resources to do so. Also, smaller businesses will find it more difficult to bounce back from a cybersecurity incident. However, that doesn’t mean small businesses should give up on cybersecurity altogether. There are many ways in which SMBs can up their cybersecurity game. Here’s how… Regular backups By conducting regular backups of their data, businesses can ensure that any unforeseen data loss, theft or ransomware causes minimal damage. One caveat here though is that the data backups have to be stored safely such that they are ‘clean’, that is, uninfected and accessible. Also, the keyword here is regular. Backups must be as frequent as possible, to ensure that data loss is minimal. Password hygiene Companies must emphasize the importance of maintaining good password hygiene. Broadly speaking good password hygiene involves- Using passwords that are not easily decipherable. Examples include avoiding passwords that can be easily guessed such as the company or user’s name, vocabulary words, even in a forgien language aren’t especially safe. Using a combination of alphabet letters, symbols, and numbers, mixing font cases, etc. Not sharing passwords with anyone, no matter who asks for it, or however urgent it sounds Updating passwords regularly and also when an employee who had the...
by admin | Nov 30, 2022 | Uncategorized
Why Managed Service may be the way to go for your data security Since effective cybersecurity should be a proactive effort, not reactive, this means that SMBs tend to overlook the entire issue as something that can be pushed forward into the future. One way to get around this challenge is to have a service level agreement with an MSP. An SLA with a managed service provider offers multiple benefits such as The obvious one is, you get the benefit of their expertise. An MSP’s core job is managing IT infrastructure, so when you bring an MSP onboard to manage your IT infrastructure, you get access to their unparalleled knowledge and expertise, which your internal IT team (even if you have one) may be lacking. Having an SLA ensures that the MSP prioritizes you over other customers and situations, meaning they are there when you need them. Your IT infrastructure is consistently monitored and maintained. Depending on the inclusions in your plan, outsourcing your IT to a managed service provider usually takes care of all the mundane, but essential elements of cybersecurity including backups, data recovery, security patches, system upgrades, etc. Overall, it can help you bring down your IT costs as your payroll expenses in terms of IT can be trimmed or eliminated in some cases. Having a managed service provider helps you scale, as they can manage the sudden spike and slumps in your IT infrastructure requirements that may be fuelled by various factors such as the holiday season, staff going on vacation, tax seasons, etc., A managed service provider can help you draft the right cybersecurity...
by admin | Nov 23, 2022 | Uncategorized
Why Cybersecurity shouldn’t be taken lightly Let’s start with a “fun fact”: In 1981, the first cybercriminal was convicted of hacking into the AT&T network and altering its internal clock so it charged off-hour rates at peak times. So, it turns out that cybercrime is not all that new. But it stays new in the sense that it is constantly evolving. Cybercriminals now target not only big businesses like AT&T, but also small- and medium-sized businesses. Cybersecurity has to be a conscious decision. It is not something to be taken lightly or something that you can engage in passively as though it were yet another random business requirement. In order to stay safe in today’s highly vulnerable environment, businesses need to focus on cybersecurity and have clear cybersecurity strategies and action plans in place. This also means budgeting appropriately to support the process. Also, remember, creating a safe cyber space in your organization isn’t an idea that starts and ends with IT. Human Resources is a critical component in the design and implementation of any cyber security strategy. Often, SMB owners feel investing so much into IT doesn’t offer great returns–which may be true in some cases. Some of the reasons for this include- Your in-house IT staff may not have enough work to stay occupied full-time When you have an in-house IT team, there are other costs that come with it, that are generally HR-related, such as training costs, employee benefits, medical insurance, 401(k) etc., As a result, sometimes, SMBs tend to resort to the firefighting approach to IT problems, which means, they reach out to an IT...
by admin | Nov 16, 2022 | Uncategorized
You can lose more in a cyber attack than you can imagine One of the errors many smaller firms make–and some larger ones–is that they really don’t understand the broad-reaching effects of a cyber attack. If someone breaks into your home and steals a laptop, you may think “ well, insurance will pay for the laptop and the broken lock, let’s move on.” In reality, that usually isn’t the end of the story. It may take you a really long time to feel safe in your home. That’s the same problem that develops when your customer’s data is compromised. They may no longer trust you with their data and find someone else to do business with. The results of a cyberattack are far-reaching. If you think getting your stolen data back or your system back up and running is the end of a cyberattack episode you are wrong! No matter what industry you operate in, there are certain compliance and regulatory requirements that need to be followed. Apart from the obvious damage to immediate business revenue and reputation caused by business interruption and downtime, a data breach has far-reaching consequences on the legal front as well. Many firms never recover. Along the same lines, did you know that there are situations wherein you don’t even have to be the actual target to be the victim of a cybercrime? Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But it’s true. If you have vendors or subcontractors, with whom you share business data, a data leak at their end could implicate your business as well. Perhaps the most important element here is ensuring that you,...
