Protecting yourself and your business from the daily virus threats and cyber security attacks can be a very real and scary thing. With these steps, we will guide you through the basics in ensuring that you can combat and protect yourself and business against the most common cyber threats.
On February 22nd, 2018 the OAIC have updated the legislation around Data breach notification for businesses, this has a huge impact on the way in which as a business operates to ensure that not only is its own data but the data of a businesses clients is kept secure from cyber attacks and 3rd parties wanting to steal this sensitive data.
Cybercriminals are quick to exploit venerabilities in software, security holes in websites and direct communication attacks. They will try anything they can to infect your system and sell your data on the dark web. As an individual/business, you can take basic steps to limit the ability of a cybercriminal breaching your system and stealing your data. There is no one size fits all solution when it comes to preventing cyber attacks, you need to ensure you have multiple layered approaches to ensure you have the best opportunity in preventing breaches in your system.
Anti Virus and Firewalls
A hardware firewall is the first layer of protection to any business that takes it data seriously. The firewall sits between the incoming internet connection and your internal network, this scans all incoming and outing traffic for any intrusions, viruses, malware and more. Your firewall should always have the ability to offer a secure SSL (encrypted) VPN (Virtual Private Network) this ensure that any external connection into your network is encrypted and secure at all times.
A good anti-virus program installed on all of your computers and servers is a great start to ensuring the security of your system. You need to ensure that your antivirus is also updated regularly with the latest definitions, has the ability to monitor your emails and whilst you are browsing the internet and scan devices like USB attached to your PC. Most basic forms of viruses and Malware will come through your email, web browsing and file sharing. HealthyPc offers a monitored antivirus solution which can be deployed on servers and workstations and is monitored to ensure that in the event an issue occurs it is dealt with quickly and securely.
Maintenance and Patching
Cyber criminals exploit the vulnerabilities in your software to gain access to your data. A strict maintenance regime is always a great start to ensure that all of your computers and servers have the latest updates not just for the operating systems, your business applications and third-party software should always be updated.
From time to time firmware also needs to be updated on equipment to keep your system secure.
Backups
Backups are a priority when it comes to the safety of your data. Always make sure you have a daily offsite backup of your critical data and databases in the event that a crypto like virus does breach your system it will encrypt all of your system’s data and be held at ransom by the cybercriminals with no guarantee that you can get your data unencrypted. 99.9% of the time when data is encrypted with ransomware the cybercriminals will just take the ransom and not supply you with a means to unencrypt your data. with a good quality backup solution, you can be back up and run in a matter of hours without having to worry about losing data.
With the introduction of cloud storage solutions backups have become a lot easier to maintain and manage. HealthyPC offers our MSP Backup solution encrypting your data and securely storing it in our Australian data stores.
Training
Ensuring that all your staff has been trained in the basics of cybersecurity is a must. Your staff are on the frontline and are interacting with people via phone email and the internet on a daily basis. Talking to your staff during your staff meetings or daily catch-ups is a great way to inform them of any security issues that you may have, from Medicare scams, ATO scams, Telstra scams, emails asking for personal data and password to direct phone calls asking for access to your system from unknown sources. HealthyPc offers a wide range of training solutions that can help, with sit-down training for your staff on what to look out for when it comes to cybersecurity.
Passwords
Ensuring you have a secure password is a must. Bobby123 or password is not secure passwords and can be breached in seconds. Think about the use of a passphrase for a password something with 8 characters and numbers and letters as a minimum. Try not to use the same passwords for everything look at trying to have a different password for all of your logins. If you have a staff member leave your business or organisation ensure you disable their account immediately and change any system passwords they may have access to.
Keeping on top of cybersecurity is an ongoing part of any business and should be taken very seriously. If you keep to these basics you are one step closer to keeping your data secure.
If you would like to get on top of your businesses security why not contact HealthyPC today and discuss with our security team on how we can help secure your businesses data.