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Cybersecurity

Scott Pierce, Sr. IT & Cybersecurity Consultant @ NetSmart Plus, a division of Applied Innovation

5 Important Things You Should Know About Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity seems to be the buzz word of 2021, right? This is not by coincidence. Cybersecurity incidents have skyrocketed over the past 18 months and only seems to be worsening. For all organizations, processes have changed significantly. In addition, security breaches are no longer an “if,” but more of a “when.” Every minute, $2.9 million is lost from cybercrimes.

 5 Important Things You Should Know About Cybersecurity

1. No Silver Bullet

Unfortunately, there is no “Silver Bullet” solution that will keep your data completely safe. No matter who you work with or what products you use, everyone is at risk. Undoubtedly, the best line of defense is ensuring you’re proactive with several layers of security and have an incident response in place. Does your business have a plan in place for when you have been infected or breached? Not only is this a great time to create Technology Roadmap if you don’t already have one, but also to review your current plan. If your company does not already have your own IT department, working with a Managed IT Services company can provide many benefits. This includes Virtual CIO services, who can create these plans  on your behalf and provide IT education for your business.

2. Educate Your Users

With over 80% of data attacks and breaches coming via email, you must realize that the Human Firewall is probably the most critical asset you have in your arsenal to protect your network. Taking the time to train and test your employees and users on your network with prevent loss of data and critical information that could cripple your business. Phishing is a serious offense and cybercriminals bank on vulnerable individuals to lead them into the network.

3. Protect Your Remote Workers

“Acceptable Usage Policies” and work-from-home  has transformed the need to re-evaluate how to provide your users with remote access, but this also makes your data protection even more vulnerable. It is important to understand how users are remotely accessing your network and company data. Zero Trust and Virtual Desktop are environments, that when combined with multifactor authentication, can be crucial to providing the convenience for remote users without incurring further risk.

4. Cybersecurity Insurance Requires Review

Did you know there is an actual insurance policy for the cyber world? It should no longer be an option as the reality and severity of risk to your organization without one can be damaging. As of 2020, the average cost of a data breach was $3.86 MILLION. Many companies cannot afford the cost to restore their network or pay the ransom for their information when a cybercriminal gains access. Policies can be very difficult to understand with the small print, but it’s necessary for you to understand what measures to have in place so that your claim is not denied by your provider.

5. Test Your Backups

Many organizations do not test their business continuity and disaster recovery solutions. You should, at the very least, be testing your backup system on a quarterly basis. This is to ensure you understand how quickly you can recover from a cyber-attack. If your IT department is unable to test frequently, many IT providers can assist your team with Co-Managed IT Service

The most important thing you can do is educate yourself and review your network security policies to determine holes in your technology and cyber landscape. Unfortunately, cybercrime is not going anywhere, and is projected to cost the world $10.5 trillion annually by 2025.  A trusted IT partner can “pop the hood” on your network security to identify and proactively mitigate the risk.

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