Implementing New Technology: 6 Cybersecurity Tips You Should Know

Worried about the increasing threat of cybercrime to your business and its repercussions? Consider these six tips to make your business more secure from these common risks.

In This Article:

• Keep Software Up-To-Date
• Leverage A Password Manager
• Don’t Sleep On Your Network Security
• Use A VPN
• Create & Communicate A Solid Mobile Phone Policy
• Train Your Employees On Cybersecurity

Cybercrime is one of the fastest-growing crimes worldwide and continues to affect businesses across all industries.

Here’s an alarming fact: 10% of the companies experience one or more successful cyber attacks yearly, with $188,400 in losses on average.

Staying protected from cyberattacks is challenging, as cybercriminals constantly seek new ways to exploit security vulnerabilities.

You must allocate budgets and resources to mitigate known risks. And that particularly includes cybercrime.

You must know the latest cybersecurity tips and best practices to prevent your company or firm from becoming a headline due to a security breach.

In this article, we’ll share six super-actionable tips you need to leverage in your organization.

1. Keep Software Up-To-Date

As users, we often download and install software without much thought. But to reduce the risk of security breaches, only keep the software you actively use on your device and uninstall any unused software.

Before installing new software, consider the permissions that the application requests. These include access to personal information, camera, location, or address book.

Also, read the licensing agreement and understand what you agree to. Decline third-party cookies to prevent your browsing data from being sold to third parties.

After installing software, keep it up to date for security reasons. Hackers often exploit vulnerabilities in outdated software, and software providers release patches to fix these vulnerabilities. Apply these patches promptly to prevent such security breaches.

Using outdated software puts your data at risk of being hacked. The same was the case with Equifax’s famous data breach. That happened because they had not updated a known vulnerable software.

While IT organizations may push patches for enterprise applications, be sure that the software on your devices is up-to-date with security patches.

2. Leverage A Password Manager

It’s nearly impossible to keep up with and remember all the passwords for the various accounts you have to create online.

That can be a massive risk to your online security, as it’s the same as having a single key to all your locks. If someone gets access to that one key, all your valuables will be at risk.

Password managers have recently become a popular recommendation for better security hygiene. Security experts suggest using password managers to combat password retention, reuse, and weak passwords.

A password manager retrieves, generates, and stores random passwords whenever you create a new account with a single “master key” password.

The generated passwords are stored in a password vault. The autofill option fills in your username and password without you having to look at the password in clear text.

A password manager will also store other vital information, including credit card numbers, CVVs, and social security numbers. You only have to memorize one strong master password to access all the other passwords stored within the vault. This eliminates the need for password fatigue and reduces the risk of weak or reused passwords.

You should be clear as long as you use brand-name password managers like Dashlane, One Password, KeePass or Bitwarden. Just remember to create a solid master password.

3. Don’t Sleep On Your Network Security

Focus on your network security to protect the data within a computer network from cyberattacks. It involves taking multiple steps to ensure the network is secure and trustworthy.

A network involves interconnected devices, including computers, servers, and wireless networks, which attackers can target.

Networks are becoming more complex as organizations rely more on their networks and data to conduct business. Security must also evolve to combat evolving threat actors and new attack methods.

The network’s visibility needs to be on point to mitigate this risk. Improving network visibility is critical to closely monitoring network traffic for malicious activities and potential threats.

Identify unauthorized access to the network and enable security measures to respond quickly with improved network visibility. You will also detect malware concealed within encrypted network traffic.

If you use SSL/TLS to secure your communications, you must identify and address any potential threats lurking within encrypted traffic.

All of that you can have with an NDR tool such as GREYCORTEX Mendel that offers deep visibility into your network and the detection of both known and unknown threats. With its real-time network visualization capabilities, it allows you to see every network device, its communication partners, data transmission amounts, protocols used, metadata, and more.

Mendel goes beyond mere visualization by offering advanced filtering options that can be used to investigate the network activity of every device in depth. By combining over 25 parameters and using logic operators, Mendel allows you to efficiently perform root cause analysis, threat hunting, and network troubleshooting tasks.

4. Use A VPN

Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) provide two key aspects: privacy and security. A VPN offers tunneled communication between your local network and an exit node in a different location.

You’ll appear to be connecting from a different location thousands of miles away from where you actually are. This is the privacy aspect of a VPN. Also, when you use a VPN, this data tunnel is encrypted.

Use a VPN for added security when using any public Wi-Fi. Why? It allows encrypted communication between the public router and the service you are connected to or trying to reach.

Your sensitive business information is a sitting duck for many types of cyberattacks if you don’t use a VPN on a public network. 

An example of a network attack could be sniffing data, meaning an attacker could intercept communication between you and the router or service you are communicating with. 

Use a paid VPN, as you never know what a free VPN service provider is doing behind the scenes. We recommend NordVPN or Surfshark, as both offer very competitive rates, are secure and safe, and have a no-logging policy.

5. Create & Communicate A Solid Mobile Phone Policy

Employees often use personal mobile devices for work-related purposes. However, you must establish clear policies and controls to secure sensitive information.

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting mobile phones as a potential entry point to company systems, making mobile security policies all the more critical.

Implement mobile security policies for best practices among employees who rely on mobile devices to securely access and handle corporate data.

Here are some important points to consider when implementing a mobile phone security policy:

• Device management: Establish guidelines for device management that include identifying authorized users, device enrollment and provisioning, and device deprovisioning.
• Password policies: Establish password policies that require strong passwords, regular password changes, and a policy of not using the same password across multiple accounts.
• Encryption: All mobile devices that connect to your organization’s network should have encryption capabilities to protect sensitive data.
• Application management: Set guidelines for application management that include identifying authorized applications and prohibiting the installation of unauthorized applications.
• Employee training: Provide regular training on mobile phone security policies, procedures, and best practices to reduce the risk of security breaches.

6. Train Your Employees On Cybersecurity

Most security breaches involve human error or picked-up habits. This can include clicking on suspicious links, ignoring security alerts, delaying software updates, syncing sensitive data to unsecured devices, and more.

To combat these issues, follow up on employee training with simulated attacks to test their knowledge and help them develop better security habits.

Here are some best practices to train your employees on cybersecurity:

• Implement policies to protect sensitive data: Create formal policies and share them with all employees.
• Teach employees about cyber threats & accountability: Employees must understand the severe nature of cyber threats and know they will be held accountable for violating protection policies.
• Require backup of all critical data: The company data should be kept safe and backed up in case of any disaster.
• Only allow authorized individuals to use your devices: Ensure company-issued devices are only used by authorized employees, and stress the importance of obtaining authorization before using any device.
• Create web content securely: Authorized individuals should be the only ones updating company websites and know how to do so securely to avoid backdoors for cybercriminals to exploit.
• Prohibit unauthorized software: Remind employees that unauthorized software should not be allowed on corporate devices.
• Train on proper email use: Educate employees on spam and phishing, and teach them how to identify illegitimate emails.

Wrapping Up

It’s only natural to have your focus set on growing your company and achieving success. But cybersecurity should never be neglected. Protect your business and the valuable assets you’ve worked hard to build.

Seek help from experts in the field to confidently navigate the digital landscape without sacrificing your attention to growing your company.

Prioritize cybersecurity and take the necessary steps to protect your business. Invest in your own success, leverage these tips, and inspire your employees to follow in your footsteps and set your mind free from all the worries involving cybersecurity.