Six Best Practices for Cybersecurity

From casual users to C-Suite executives the risk of getting hacked has grown exponentially in the last two years. Cyberattacks are an increasing concern especially among business leaders. The frequency and sophistication of these attacks has increased in recent years The C-Suite is a particularly profitable target for hackers due to their access to company data. The following practices may be considered a good baseline for everyone, not only for organizational leaders to adopt in order to mitigate their cyber security risks.

1. Develop phishing awareness

Given how busy we are with our personal and professional lives, it’s natural for us not to take time to educate ourselves about Phishing and its variations such as Smishing, Vishing, Whaling, Spear-Phishing. These attacks are subtle, and they capitalize on the lack of attention users give to details embedded within email messages that they receive daily. Phishing and impersonation attacks employ tailored social engineering tactics to fool email users into giving up credentials, paying for a fake invoice, or sharing confidential documents.

Our Solution: It is critical for users to get trained on how to recognize fraudulent emails. Short videos, with an average length of 2 minutes, are far more effective than long-form materials that are 10 or 15 minutes.

Action step: Ask us about our Employee Awareness program and how you can roll it out in your organization.

2. Adopt Email security gateways & dark web monitoring

In addition to developing awareness on the users’ end, using AI-enabled email gateways can make a significant difference to securing the inbox. Email security gateways sit between the email server and the user, filtering content based on AI-powered algorithms that analyze inbound and outbound messages in real-time.

Solution: Email gateways are smarter about detecting the malicious intent behind those targeted attacks. They operate quietly in the background to prevent attacks from reaching the intended targets. In addition, dark web monitoring can alert the user of compromised credentials found in known breaches.

Action step: Ask us about getting setup with one of the most effective email protection technologies as well as dark web monitoring.

3. Adopt use of password managers

Compromised credentials are valuable to attackers. For example, an attacker might initially conduct a phishing campaign to collect key credentials for a cloud-based e-mail system, then later use those credentials to secretly gain access to the e-mail system and install malware.

Based on Dark Web studies on compromised credentials, individuals use the same passwords across 75% of websites that they use. Once they have acquired databases of compromised credentials from a single platform, malicious actors can then use them to break into other systems.

Solution: Password managers enable users to create unique, secure passwords for each individual service they use, thereby eliminating reliance on storage space and the reuse of the same password across different websites.

Action step: Ask us how to roll out the use of organiation-level password management.

4. Use of VPN (Virtual Private Network) to secure network access on public networks

Using public networks for Internet access allows for the viewing of unencrypted data by anyone with access to a network who wants to view it. This can be avoided by employing a robust VPN technology.

Solution: A good VPN will provide privacy and anonymity to users on the Internet, creating a private network when they are connected to the public Internet. VPNs (Virtual Private Network) disguise a user’s Internet Protocol (IP) address, effectively making the actions on the web impossible to track. VPN technology creates a tunnel, which conceals an artist’s internet activities, including links he or she clicks on, or files that they download or upload.

Action step: Ask us about our market-leading VPN solution and how you can secure your internet access.

5. Adopt the use of MFA (Multifactor Authentication)

MFA systems require two or more factors to prove the user’s identity and give him or her access to the account. MFA provides reliable reassurances that the authorized user is who he says they are, thus minimizing the likelihood of unauthorized access. MFA applications require that you show two pieces of proof–your credentials–when logging into your account.

Solution: MFA applications are easily accessible and simple to implement.

Action step: Ask us about getting MFA rolled out and implemented into your organization’s workflow.

This is what one of our happy customers had to say on Clutch.co after we implemented MFA accross their organization:

The team’s workflow is efficient and seamless as they only needed a handful of meetings to fine tune the scope of the project.

6. Run anti-malware for endpoint protection

Malware (malware) comes in many variants. From ransomware to viruses and trojans, malware is used extensively worldwide to harm users.

Solution: Endpoint security is easily deployed remotely. The agent runs invisibly in the background. Infected files are isolated in real time.

Action step: We can secure every endpoinit in your enviroment: workstations, servers and mobile devices. [Call us today][6] so we can help you elevate your security posture.

George Bakalov is the Director of Cybersecurity at IMPACT Group, a leading Twin Cities Managed Service Provider, helping Minnesota-based organizations manage through and navigate the complexities and challenges of IT, among which is cybersecurity. Click here to get in touch with our team and discuss your strategic or immediate IT needs.