In recent years, technology has undoubtedly gone through some massive, unprecedented changes. With incredibly exciting innovations such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, and the rise of remote data access, it’s safe to say that we well and truly live in a cyber world.
But, as with any other worlds, this digital environment is also full of potential threats and dangers – yes, we are talking about cyber attacks and cyber crime. Just consider that, in 2023, there were a total of 2,365 cyber attacks globally – a 72% increase compared to the figures from 2021. On average, a data breach can set a business back a whopping $4.88 million.
So, it’s clear to see why establishing a solid cybersecurity framework is absolutely vital, in this day and age. Not quite sure where to begin? Keep reading and you’ll discover our top five cybersecurity measures.
As a first step, you’ll want to ask yourself: who, within the business, has access to sensitive data? If the answer is “everyone”, then you’ll need to act fast to fix this. Granting such privileges to your entire workforce, in fact, could leave you vulnerable to both external and internal attacks (ever heard of cyber inside jobs?).
Consider applying the so-called “least permission model”, also known as the principle of least privilege. This simply means assigning your users the minimum access rights, and only adding extra ones as and when required.
We know, it might sound obvious, but having strong passwords is another must. After all, how many times have you resorted to something extremely basic and easy to guess, like your partner’s birthday or your pet’s name?
A bulletproof password usually needs to feature the following:
Other password-security measures to pass on to your employees include:
Hard-to-crack passwords are great to enforce better data security within your organization, but do you know what’s even better? Biometric authentication. This refers to the use of bodily features to grant access to a system.
Some of the most popular methods of biometric authentication include:
As you can imagine, using biometric authentication in addition to standard password authentication can be a powerful way to prevent any unauthorized access to confidential systems and information. Thanks to its exceptional level of precision, in fact, if a device is set up with biometric authentication, it will only grant access to the person who possesses those very specific – and unique – features.
But there’s more to biometrics than the simple physical aspect.
Biometrics is a field in constant and rapid expansion and, recently, the area of behavioral biometrics has taken center stage when it comes to cyber security. When we talk about behavioral biometrics, we mean the practice of analyzing the activity and behavior of a user, and how they interact with digital devices.
Abnormal behavior, tracked via keystroke and mouse dynamics, can be reported immediately to security agents, who are able to work rapidly to identify and investigate the potential threat.
Another great way to enhance security is using multi-factor authentication (MFA). This adds an extra layer of protection to your digital data, preventing malicious actors from breaking into your systems even if they have access to your password.
Why? Because, with MFA, a password is only one piece of the jigsaw puzzle. To get to the full picture, a user would need other pieces, typically: a mobile phone number, the user’s fingerprint (or another biometric feature), a one-time access code, or a security token.
Only by having all these elements will the user be granted access – if just one of them is missing, the data will simply not be available to them.
Last but by all means not least, another crucial thing you’ll need to implement in order to strengthen your cyber security is the performance of regular security audits. Essentially, these are thorough checks of your current security measures that assess and detect:
Once everything has been identified and recorded, you’ll be able to get to the bottom of any potential security events while, at the same time, spotting any weak points in your overall cybersecurity framework.
To be effective and accurate, you’ll want to schedule a security audit quite frequently – at a minimum, we’d recommend twice a year. However, if you have been experiencing data breaches or other security problems, you might want to increase the frequency, at least until you have gotten to the root cause of the threat.
Keeping your business data safe from prying eyes is an absolute necessity in our digital age. Luckily, as you have seen from our guide, it’s a lot easier than you may think. However, you don’t have to embark on this venture on your own!
Whether you are based in the San Diego area or elsewhere and need the expert support of a trusted managed service provider (MSP) with plenty of experience in cloud administration and cloud service management, get in touch with the Basecamp Studios team today!
