Cyber security is a growing need in a day and age that relies on technology for almost all business purposes. It is not uncommon to hear of hackers stealing confidential information pertaining to financials, IP’s and other such commercial data.
So how safe is your business exactly? And how do you stay safe? Cyber security breaches in the past have brought everyone (individuals/ businesses/ governments) to realize that no one is impervious to a cyber threat. Simply put, it all boils down to ‘when’ and not ‘if’ you are attacked.
However, ensuring to beef up security and taking the appropriate measures will help you fortify your business against ‘hacktivists’.
A report late last year mentioned that over 70% of the organizations victimized by hackers had less than 100 employees. This is naturally because of the lack of required knowledge as well as shortage of dispensable resources to allocate to cyber security.
Here are a few measures you can take if you haven’t already done so.
Conduct an assessment
Get your CIO, CTO and other operational heads of departments in a room and identify the most important aspects of your business to protect. Your financial and transactional data, process and management information, product research as well as client information; all fall under these.
Once these areas have been identified, scrutinize the amount of protection already provided, and make amends and introductions to spheres that need additional security.
For areas of your business that are already well-protected, try and test if there are any vulnerabilities in your security that a hacker could exploit, to be doubly sure.
Create awareness
Fortifying yourself against a cyber attack is not a ‘one-man-job’. It requires active participation from all members of your organization to ensure there is no negligence which could lead to a breach.
Educate employees on the potential threats of a cyber attack and the damage it could cause.
There are many methods in which your security could be compromised depending what information the hacker wishes to achieve- like phishing and spoofing scams, hacking workstations, social engineering, malware and pharming.
If your employees do not understand how these work, conduct short workshops on best practices on using computers at work on the Internet.
Be Prepared
Like we said, it’s a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ you are targeted. Always be prepared for whatever is to come.
Have a remedial plan prepared in case of a security breach. Chart out steps and actions to be taken to the ‘T’. Ensure your employees know of these incident-response plans and that they practice them like they would a mock-drill for an escape during a fire. Everyone in the office needs to be well-prepared.
With the number of cyber attacks on the rise, most organizations only know that they’ve been hacked much after it’s too late, while the hacker has already gotten what he wanted.
Being aware of security protocols and being prepared for an attack will best help you to be able to manage, should such a situation arise in the future.