Cybersecurity Spring Cleaning: Follow The Best Practices
Spring Flowers Serve as a Good Reminder to do Some Spring Cleaning and to Include Your Cybersecurity Practices
When spring comes knocking on the door, it is time to clean the house, open windows, and pack winter clothes away. While you enjoy the spring breeze, it is also crucial to consider reviewing your cybersecurity practices.
Accenture’s report shows that around 45% of cyber attacks target small businesses. Unfortunately, less than 15% know how to address or avoid cybersecurity issues.
Spring is the perfect time for enterprises to assess their complex cybersecurity protocols and make changes to ward off potential cyber threats, risks, and attacks. Think of it as the time to also do a technology spring cleaning.
Let’s take a look at the best ways to spring-clean your company’s security infrastructure:
Test Your Data Backup and Disaster Recovery Processes
It has become a standard practice for companies of all sizes to back up their data and put in place a solid disaster recovery plan. This spring, test the effectiveness of your data backup and disaster recovery processes. In case of a potential disaster, your goal should be to ensure your company’s data is secure.
Make Relevant Updates
Most enterprises follow through with their scheduled software patching, but some still overlook or struggle to make quick updates. By now, you should understand that updates are a continuous effort. So, this spring, make it one of your top priorities to make software and firmware updates.
Map Out Your Network
You may not be aware of the location of all your devices, which may or may not have direct access to your security network. Why map out your network if you did it last year? Well, IT experts can tell you that networks go through organic changes, which include adding more devices. So, map out all your used devices with proper management interfaces in your network.
Evolve and Adapt New Security Policies
As a company, you deal with evolving cyber threats, and that means adopting new policies. In the cybersecurity space, change is never bad. In fact, cybersecurity experts and tech leaders concur that companies should thoroughly assess and update their cybersecurity policies regularly.
What may have been crucial to your company last quarter or year – may no longer be useful. The wheel of cybersecurity continues to spin, and you want to ensure you have updated security policies. For instance, part of the process is to ensure your employees get regular training about following the best cybersecurity practices. In fact, staff training is one of the best ways to avoid cyber threats and risks. This, in turn, will propel you to audit your existing cybersecurity programs.
Get Rid of Unwarranted Elements
If specific data or elements are not in use, you might as well remove them. And that’s because using redundant data elements gives cybercriminals opportunities to exploit. So, if there are unused/old accounts, applications, or servers, make sure to get rid of them. The trick is to minimize the potential cyber attack opportunities for cybercriminals.
Have everyone clean up their passwords
If your systems are set up to send out scheduled reminders to change passwords, Spring is a great time to serve as that reminder (out with the old, in with the new). Additionally, remind everyone that strong passwords make it harder for hackers to gain access. Also, no one should use the same password on multiple accounts. Finally, if you don’t already have a multi-factor authentication in place, now would be a good time to get one. It adds another layer of security to your online accounts.
Easiest one to overlook
Cell phones seem to always be everyone’s hands these days. So why not include them when doing cybersecurity spring cleaning at the office. A friendly reminder can’t hurt – such as: always log out of apps and always use a lock screen. Malware and spyware will typically end up on the device because of what someone clicked on – always be cautious – if the person didn’t look for the link, then it’s probably not a good idea to click on it.
While tech solutions are evolving at lightning speed, cybercriminals have become more cunning in manipulating networks and launching cyber attacks.
Spring is a suitable timeframe for companies to review their existing cybersecurity infrastructure, make prompt updates, and improve their cybersecurity status.
In retrospect, focus on automating your threat response, empowering your security teams, sharing cyber threat information, and building dedicated cybersecurity protocols.