Every organization is a potential cybercrime target. Contrary to popular belief, small businesses are a favorite target owing to the widespread belief that they’re lacking in sufficiently robust security yet still have valuable digital assets worth stealing. To safeguard your company, employees, and customers, you need to ensure your security is up to scratch.
Here are seven telltale signs that your cybersecurity infrastructure is due for improvement:
#1. Irregular risk assessments
Without regular risk assessments, there’s no way of knowing about vulnerabilities until it’s too late. It’s also important to have an up-to-date impact analysis to determine which areas are most in need of improvement. There’s a greater need for fully documented risk assessments now that most business computing infrastructures extend far beyond the traditional workplace to incorporate mobile devices and cloud-hosted resources, all of which present their own risks.
#2. No multifactor authentication (MFA)
Passwords have always played a central role in digital security, but relying on them entirely is sure to lead to disaster sooner or later. Social engineering scammers routinely go after login information without even exploiting vulnerabilities in technology itself. Implementing an extra verification layer, such as a one-time security token or SMS verification code, boosts security exponentially by making your systems far less susceptible to phishing scammers since even if they get a hold of your password, they would still need to fulfill the additional authentication steps.
#3. Irresponsible bring your own device (BYOD) practices
Letting your employees use their own devices for work can boost productivity and morale, and it’s also a key enabler of workforce mobility. Unfortunately, a BYOD policy can also add risk to your organization since there’s a far wider range of devices to police while still respecting employee privacy and ownership rights. The easiest way to mitigate most of the risks is to use cloud-based software so no confidential data is stored on the local device.
#4. Misunderstood responsibilities
Information security is still widely perceived as solely a technology problem — the responsibility of the IT department alone. Nothing could be further from the truth. Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility, and if people don’t know how to recognize and report potential threats, there’s not much the IT department can do to address them. Information security officers and other technology leaders need to build closer relationships throughout the business and drive a culture change in which everyone is accountable for the company’s cybersecurity.
#5. Outdated technology
When it comes to exploiting technology vulnerabilities, the first thing cyber criminals look for is outdated technology. This might include operating systems (OSs) that are no longer supported like Windows XP or hardware with outdated firmware. Software developers and hardware vendors should provide critical security updates for their products for the duration of their programs’ support life cycles. You should always install these updates and retire any systems that are no longer supported.
#6. Over Reliance on conventional security
Conventional perimeter security is akin to a wall surrounding a castle. It keeps the bad stuff out and the valuable stuff in. In terms of digital security, that means having a firewall to protect the network and antivirus software to protect individual machines. The only problem with this is that many data-bearing assets lie outside the office network on things like mobile devices and cloud storage facilities. That’s why you need to think outside the box when implementing a multilayered cybersecurity infrastructure.
#7. Lack of employee training
Last but certainly not least is the fact that people, and not computers themselves, are behind almost all data breaches. Social engineering attacks are constantly on the rise since it’s much easier to exploit human ignorance than vulnerabilities in bleeding-edge technology. To minimize human threat, businesses are looking towards automated security solutions and, even more importantly, reliable awareness and training programs to turn their employees from the weakest link to their first and last line of defense.
Complete Document Solutions provides managed IT services to businesses in Los Angeles that thwart cyber attacks while still driving growth and cutting costs. Call us today to request a quote.
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