Preventing a security breach: 3 things businesses need to know!

Preventing a security breach: 3 things businesses need to know!

Cybersecurity is not a concern for large brands alone. Numerous small & medium-sized businesses have suffered the consequences of data theft & security breaches, and hackers & cybercriminals seem to smart finding new means and ways. Many companies are now opting for cyber insurance to mitigate a few risks, while others are hiring ethical hackers to test systems. These are genuine and essential steps, but how an organization deals with cybersecurity within the workplace is more important. In this post, we are sharing 3 essential things that businesses must know about preventing a security breach.

  1. Collaboration is necessary

The top management needs to understand that cybersecurity policies are not meant to be closed in folders and files. Front-line employees, executives and mid-level managers, unfortunately, are often responsible for security breaches because they just do not know their role in cybersecurity. Collaboration has to happen, employees must be trained and educated on basic cybersecurity practices, and there has to be guidelines in place.

  1. Weak passwords are a big threat

Although that may seem outdated news to many, but weak passwords are often responsible for backdoor entry. Businesses don’t pay enough heed to changing default usernames and passwords, and employees are unaware of how to set a strong password. It is also necessary to use a password management tool for creating and retrieving passwords. Strong passwords are at least 10-characters long, have uppercase & lowercase letters, special characters and numbers.

  1. Network segmentation, use of firewalls, and multi-factor authentication (MFA) do matter

Network segmentation is the process of segmenting the entire office network and resources into subsegments, so that compromise or hacking attempt on one doesn’t overwhelm the entire system. Firewalls are necessary to ensure that every device is protected and saved against untrusted networks, such as The Internet. Just using a strong password may not be enough for certain resources and privilege accounts, and the solution to that is multi-factor authentication (MFA). From using biometrics, security question, and other means of authentication, businesses can take security to the next level.

In conclusion

Finally, it is also necessary to keep a watch on recent cyberattacks and cybersecurity concerns, so that corrective and preventive steps can be taken immediately. Having a proactive stance towards cybersecurity is the best way to prevent a security breach. As long as a company has clear guidelines and knows how to handle an incident in time, cybersecurity shouldn’t be hard to manage.

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Skye Marshall

Ivy Skye Marshall: Ivy, a social justice reporter, covers human rights issues, social movements, and stories of community resilience.