Cybersecurity remains a top priority for IT and business leaders in 2023 and several factors will influence strategy for how to strengthen digital defenses. With ransomware attacks rising, zero-trust models are becoming increasingly popular. Having a sound security strategy provides unified and reliable protection of company assets from potential threats.
Cybercrime is undoubtedly one of the fastest-growing crimes in the world and it continues to impact businesses in all industries. In fact, it’s estimated that by 2025 there will be 30 billion connected devices around the world, up from 18 billion in 2017 by comparison. How can you ensure you’re not creating an open season for cyber criminals? Unless you want your company to experience major downtime as a result of a security breach, you need to be aware of the most up-to-date cybersecurity tips and best practices.
Let’s take a look into a few cybersecurity best practices to keep your business and your employees safe.
6 Cybersecurity Best Practices
1. Institute cybersecurity training.
Conduct cybersecurity awareness workshops to train your employees at regular intervals. It will help reduce cyberattacks caused by human error and employee negligence to a great extent. The key to making cybersecurity work is to make sure your employees are well-trained and consistently exercising security practices. Sometimes, one mistake from an improperly trained employee can cause an entire security system to crumble.
2. Keep software and hardware updated.
To add new features, fix known bugs and protect against threats, always update to the latest version of your software to protect yourself from new or existing security vulnerabilities. Outdated computer hardware may not support the most recent software security upgrades, so it’s a best practice to also keep your hardware up to date to better defend against cyberattack.
3. Enable data encryption.
Regular email transactions are not suitable for exchanging sensitive documents; if the emails are intercepted, unauthorized users will have access to your sensitive and proprietary information. Use a secure file-sharing solution to automatically encrypt data so that you don’t have to worry about losing information in the instance of a breach. Remember, your files are only as secure as the tools you chose to share them with.
4. Employ technology consultants.
Today, every business is vulnerable to attack, not just major global brands and the consequences of being unprepared can be catastrophic. Rely on a team of certified IT consultants to keep bad actors out of your business and protect your company, assets and employees. With the right expertise, solutions and vendors in place, a consulting firm can mitigate threats and protect you from existential risks.
5. Back up your data.
Important data can be lost as a result of a hack or security breach. A data backup solution is one of the best practices to keep personal and business data secure from a ransomware or phishing attack. It’s also important to be prepared for data restoration or recovery in the instance your information is lost. Ensure your important information is backed up frequently to the cloud or a local server.
6. Assume everything is hostile.
Many business leaders are turning to zero trust practices to build a more defensible security posture. In a zero trust architecture, your data, workflows and services are protected by software-defined microsegmentation, enabling you to keep them secure anywhere, whether in your data center or in distributed hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
How Can You Defend Against Cybercrime in 2023?
With a new hack or cybercrime report surfacing almost daily, it’s understandable to be concerned about your digital footprint. It doesn’t help that you might not be well-versed in what’s involved or necessary for complete protection. Implementing cybersecurity best practices and rethinking technology strategy can be overwhelming. You need a partner to help you address new risks, elevate your technology and help you build a defensible security posture.
If you’re like most IT or business leaders, what keeps you up at night isn’t the trouble you can foresee, it’s the trouble that you don’t see coming that can disrupt your technology infrastructure. Even the best designed networks can be taken offline, causing work interruptions and keeping your customers from connecting with you. Contact us today for a next-gen infrastructure that is purpose-built, agile, resilient and secure. As defenders of network infrastructure and security, when trouble strikes, ATC will be there to get you back up and running.
