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In the first three months of 2023, UK businesses faced an average of one cyber attack every minute. Seems incredible, right? Well, it’s the reality we’re living in according to a report by Beaming, a business internet service provider. The company also reported that each business experienced 170,508 attempts to breach its online systems, on average, during the same period.
This being said, now more than ever, you need to implement the best tactics and have the latest systems to protect your business against ever-increasing cyber attacks.
And cyber securing your data, systems and infrastructure is the best way to make sure all these stay protected from all types of security breaches.
In this next article, we will go through three easy steps you can take to secure your business today.
1. Implement cyber security measures to protect your business
You can implement a range of cyber security solutions and increase your business’s defences against cyber attacks. This can mean implementing the latest technology, such as firewalls, strong passwords paired with two-factor authentication, and anti-virus software.
You may think all these layers of protection and monitoring aren’t enough, and you’re probably right, but they should be a must for every business as these tracking and monitoring technologies are essential for mitigating cyber risks.
Install and maintain firewalls
A firewall is a network security hardware or software that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing traffic. In other words, a firewall protects your network and business by filtering the traffic that enters it, making sure that unauthorized traffic, viruses or malicious software can’t access your business data or computers.
So, make sure your business network is protected by the latest generation firewalls and that this is updated regularly.
Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication (2FA)
Using strong, unique passwords for each user should always be your first step to secure and enforce your business’ online accounts and internal systems. So, make sure you encourage and promote password managers tools to help manage and generate complex passwords.
On top of this, for an extra layer of security, enable two-factor authentication (2FA) and multi-factor authentication. 2FA is this extra security process designed to keep your employees’ accounts protected from hackers stealing their credentials if their passwords are too weak.
Most of the time, it’s a two-step verification process that requires a user not only to add a username and password but also to approve authentication requests through their smartphone app or another mobile device.
Keep software and systems up-to-date
Another way you can keep your data and network secure is to regularly update your operating systems, software, and applications to the latest versions.
For example, anti-virus software is also a must for your business as it can detect and identify which type of virus it is, and also remove it from your systems.
In most cases, these updates include security patches that fix vulnerabilities and prevent potential attacks. So, to make sure your software is able to protect your data against all sorts of viruses, it’s essential to have the latest version of it.
2. Develop a comprehensive security plan
As we said, a cyber security strategy that includes only anti-viruses and firewalls is no longer enough in 2023. That’s why, no matter if your business is small or big, your internal and external security team needs to build a strong cyber security plan that includes multiple layers of protection against all types of attacks.
Here is what a cyber strategy plan should include.
Identify risks and vulnerabilities
If you choose to work with a team of cyber security experts, they will start by evaluating your business operations, systems, and tools to identify potential risks and vulnerabilities.
They will be running vulnerability checks or risk assessments, for example, to uncover your security flaws before a hacker exploits them.
Potential risks or vulnerabilities could be everything from data breaches, cyber theft, natural disasters, or other cyber disruptions.
Develop a strong cyber strategy plan
Once they have this risk assessment done, the cyber security team will propose and build tailor-made cyber security plan based on your business background and potential risks.
This plan can include advanced threat detection and response tools to monitor the business’s systems and detect potential threats in real-time.
For example, a strong cyber security plan should also include advanced firewalls and access controls that ensure only authorised users can have access to the business’s systems and data.
Create a business continuity plan and disaster recovery plan (DRP)
Another important aspect of a cyber security plan is to put together a BCP (or business continuity plan), making sure your business continues to function during a crisis.
Now, a DRP (or disaster recovery plan) outlines how your business will recover from a disaster. This plan can include details on how to protect and restore critical data, systems, and assets, among others.
So, a comprehensive data backup and disaster recovery plan ensures critical business data is restored quickly and efficiently in the event of an incident.
Regularly review and update your security plan
As your business grows and evolves, so will your security needs change. When you choose to work with a strong cyber security team, their services should also include regular reviews and updates to your security systems and tools to ensure your cyber security plan stays relevant and effective.
These reviews and updates can mean monthly checkups of the state of your infrastructure, network, cloud, or applications. For example, they can run monthly vulnerability checks or risk assessments to discover your security flaws before a hacker exploits them.
Here are the ways a cyber security plan can help your business
3. Test your systems and train your team
Test your security systems continuously
The best way to make sure your business stays cyber secure is to have your security team test your network, systems and tools regularly.
So, after implementing a cyber security plan, the security team will also put your infrastructure to the test. This testing can help detect and fix vulnerabilities and can also assure you have the right security tools and strategy in place.
Most cyber security teams perform these through bounty bug programs or penetration tests. Penetration tests are actually simulated attacks done by penetration testers to find errors, threats or vulnerabilities in your network, software system or web applications. Bug bounty programs are another way to find bugs or other vulnerabilities in your business IT systems, made by ethical hackers.
Of course, depending on your specific industry and legal requirements, your business may need to perform frequent tests and security evaluations.
Train your employees on cyber security practices
One important last step to get your business secured is to train your employees on what are the best practices of cyber security, such as avoiding phishing emails, securing their devices, using secure Wi-Fi networks, and not sharing sensitive information.
Through an extensive security awareness training program, your team will know how to identify and mitigate security risks to your business. Research done by Stanford University found that approximately 90% of all data breaches are caused by an employee’s mistake. So, it seems that with proper security awareness training, your team can prevent many cyber attacks.
Now, what are these cyber security training programs? Well, there are in fact online courses on the basic principles, best practices and policies surrounding data security, information security, GDPR compliance and data and technology handling.
Make sure you choose training courses that can be tailored to your business security requirements, and that can provide a flexible approach to learning.
Start protecting your business now
Haar can help you implement any of these steps and make sure your business data and systems are protected from the inside out.
Contact our cyber security team to discuss what cyber security solution is right for your business.
