WHAT CYBER SECURITY PRACTICES YOU SHOULD FOLLOW?

The internet has made the world easily accessible and connected than ever before. but it also raises some challenges. The hacking world is growing the same as the security world.

Big tech companies will be extremely well secured with the latest in cutting edge encryption technology. but, what about small or midcap companies what are the common mistakes they do and things they should remember to keep their network, system and data security.

This blog aims to explain how small and midcap organizations can work with cyber security challenges and remain secure. before we get into it, it is important to understand what cyber security is?

What is cyber security?

Every system that is connected to the internet from small IoT devices to the cloud server requires cyber security because a breach in the system can cost a leak of personal & confidential data.

In a computing context, security consists of system software security and physical security and safety from unauthorized access to the data centers and network.

Security is important to maintain confidentiality, integrity and data accessibility, which is a subset of cyber security.

Whether you’re an SMB or a large enterprise, these are the best cybersecurity practices you need to be aware of in 2022 before hackers seized opportunities to take advantage of them:

1. Take Cyber Security seriously
2. Take regular backups
3. Be aware of phishing
4. Use licensed software
5. Don’t use Public Networks
6. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)
7. Always Update Security Patches
8. Keep Your Password Secure

Take Cyber Security Seriously

Study shows that 90% of security breaches are caused by human errors and mistakes. while companies spend a lot on their employee cyber security awareness training.

Most cyber security awareness training for employees is not engaging. And employees can’t engage with the content. They’re less likely to remember to address this problem and solve the human error, cyber security awareness training should have touches of humor, brevity and persistence.

Take Regular Backups

While we may wish that our employees were perfect, they’re only human and not taking backup of data can cost you data loss.

That means that they’ll make mistakes. data backup and recovery can be price worthy. Backups will ensure that any mistakes can be corrected.

Employees accidentally lose their devices or water damage can fry up the hard drive in a laptop and data can be loosed.

And cyberattack has caused the loss of valuable data from a small company to a big organization. Having a backup ensures that if an attack is successful, your data is still protected and available.

Ransom and Malware attacks are also common types of cyberattacks that can be harmful to data. For example, a ransomware WannaCry attack spread quickly through a series of phishing attacks in 2017. Training your end-users on how to identify phishing emails can minimize the likelihood of malware getting inside your network and spreading to keep your data safe and secure.

If any of the above happens, you need to have a data backup and recovery solution in place.

Be aware of phishing

One of the most common forms of cyber-attack is phishing which attackers commonly used for a password or personal information harvesting. This is typically done with an email connected to a domain very similar to the target company or with nearly the same domain name as the trusted company domain. Sometimes it’s hard to recognize employees when they aren’t aware.

To remain secure from a phishing attack please check the following:

• Do not connect with public wi-fi or open networks.
• Use a secure website (indicated by HTTPS:// and a security “lock” icon in the browser’s address bar) to browse
• Make sure you are redirected to the right website.
• Never trust any source that requests sensitive information via email

Follow are types of phishing attacks follow us we will discuss them in upcoming blogs:

• Email phishing
• Spear phishing
• Whaling and CEO fraud
• Voice phishing
• Clone phishing
• SMS phishing
• Page hijacking
• Calendar phishing

Use licensed software

If you have used unlicensed software, you have probably seen some unexpected failure or improper application functioning. Illegal software is often modified to prevent updates or authenticity checks from the installed version. These changes cause the system to malfunction.

While the stable operation can be performed through the licensed software, they also get regular updates, which does not usually happen in pirated versions.

In fact, it is through these security flaws that vulnerabilities are exploited to harm users and companies.

Recent security research shows that:

• Employees working from home tend to install pirated software. There is a 20% spike in software piracy during this pandemic period.
• About 34% of pirated software carries malware.

Computer piracy is illegal and constitutes a federal crime. The monetary penalties can reach up to millions per instance of copyright violation. There you should not use illegal and pirated software.

Don’t use Public Networks

Do you use free Wi-fi? available in public places then you are venerable to a MITM attack. always check the SSL certificate it helps to prevent MITM attacks.

The key concepts of MITM attack are:

• Are a type of session hijacking
• Involve attackers inserting themselves as relays or proxies in an ongoing, legitimate conversation or data transfer
• Exploit the real-time nature of conversations and data transfers to go undetected
• Allow attackers to intercept confidential data
• Allow attackers to insert malicious data and links in a way indistinguishable from legitimate data

Although MITM attacks are not as common as ransomware or phishing attacks, they do present a credible threat to all organizations. but as an individual, you should not connect to public and open networks.

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)

Bring your own device is a policy That allows employees to use their own device and help to increase remote and hybrid workers during the pandemic period. It encourages employees to use personal devices on the job, but hundreds or thousands of employees using all kinds of mobile devices from different manufacturers running various operating system versions creates a BYOD mess, not a BYOD environment

Using the different devices can cause security issues for network and data security, specifically concerning how users can unwittingly create vulnerabilities to cyberattacks and breaches.

A simple phishing email to one unsuspecting employee is all it takes to result in a massive breach.

IT department should follow certain rules for BYOD:

• Implements specific rules for which types of personal devices, operating systems, and applications are approved for use on the company network.
• Establishes best practices for, and organizational rights over, information passed through personal devices for business purposes.
• Outlines employee responsibilities, and reimbursement policies, and sets endpoint security standards.

The goal is to reduce incompatibilities and related support issues, enhance collaboration and information sharing among employees, and minimize security risks to the corporate IT environment.

Always Update Security Patches

A security patch is an additional security update provided by the company in a weekly and monthly manner. it updates software, systems and applications by installing new code to fill in, or “patch,” the vulnerability. This helps to secure the system from new types of attacks and venerability. The problem with patches is that new vulnerabilities are constantly being discovered, which means that new patches are constantly being released to try to keep your systems secure.

Small Organizations do not take updates and fixes seriously and become the favourite target of hackers. While security updates aren’t top of mind for most employees. Naturally, they are most concerned with their own work duties and how to complete them most efficiently. The security team should schedule a system security update and perform audits.

Microsoft schedules the release of security updates on “Patch Tuesday,” the second Tuesday of each month at 10:00 AM PST. On Regular basis, everyone should take it seriously.

But also having a software update schedule is also helpful. IT and security schedule updates help to manage downtime, and employees should understand why one Microsoft patch doesn’t cover everything.

Patch management is important for the following key reasons:

• System uptime: patch updates keep the system up-to-date and help run smoothly, supporting system uptime.
• Security: Patch fixes vulnerabilities in your software and applications that help you reduce your organization’s security risk.
• Compliance: Organizations are often required by regulatory bodies to maintain a certain level of compliance and audits. Patch management is a necessary piece of adhering to compliance standards.

Feature improvements: Patch can help ensure that you have the latest and greatest that a product has to offer.

Keep Your Password Secure

While the end goal of any password attack is to crack a user’s password in order to gain access to personal data and credit card information there are many ways to achieve this goal. The most common methods are:

• Dictionary Attacks
• Brute-Force Attacks
• Hybrid Attacks
• Password Spraying

You can follow those steps to make sure your password is secure:

1. Don’t use personal information in passwords like names, birthdays, phone numbers, etc.
2. Randomize patterns and sequences of characters to make an unguessable password
3. Never reuse passwords on multiple websites and using old passwords can also make your account vulnerable
4. The longer your password, the more difficult it will be for hackers to guess and use a mix of numbers and special characters in the password.
5. Don’t share passwords, Sharing your passwords with friends or family compromises the Cyber Safety of your personal accounts never ever share your passwords.
6. Don’t use public networks, Using public Wi-Fi without a VPN allows hackers to track your online presence and potentially expose your device’s data, including saved credentials.
7. Password managers are an excellent tool for people struggling to ideate and organize their own passwords don’t use an unsecured notes app to save passwords.
8. Switching up the passwords you created for your different accounts can reassure you that you’re taking all the necessary steps to keep your accounts and data safe.
9. You must turn on two-factor-authentication 2FA
10. You can also use a hardware key. A software protection dongle is electronic copy protection and content protection device. When connected to a computer or other electronics, they unlock software functionality or decode the content.

Conclusion

Cybersecurity is important because it protects all categories of data from theft and damage. This includes sensitive data, personal information, intellectual property, data, and governmental and industry information systems.

Without a cybersecurity program, your organization cannot defend itself against data breach campaigns, which makes it an irresistible target for cybercriminals.

To keep data protected and the system secure, intelligent cloud security solutions should be implemented alongside strong passwords policies like multi-factor authentication to mitigate unauthorized access.

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