Cyber attacks cost businesses billions of dollars every single year and constitute one of the biggest threats to ‘business as usual’ that a company can face. Preventing cyber attacks from damaging a company involves the development of a clear and robust cyber security strategy. Here are three examples of measures that can be taken in the creation of a defensive strategy.
Set Up A Secure Online Gateway
A secure web gateway will go a long way towards keeping your company safe from attack. Secure web gateways act as a barrier between the World Wide Web and a company network. Filtering out malware that can be inadvertently downloaded from untrustworthy sites and ensuring that company policies regarding the exfiltration of data are adhered to, a secure online gateway is absolutely essential for any company where employees need to use the internet as part of their work.
Deliver Regular Training
Poorly trained staff are more likely to expose your company to risk. Establishing a regular cyber security training regimen will help bolster your defenses. Many cyberattacks are made possible by simple human error. In 2016, the Democratic National Convention’s emails were hacked by Russian agents. How was this allowed to happen? Human error was the culprit. Staff members had used their login details on a fake login page. This technique is known as email phishing and is a remarkably common way for networks to be compromised. If the staff members in question had recently been trained to spot the signs of phishing infiltration then the scandal would likely never have happened.
Only Use Encrypted Data Transfer
Data in transit is very vulnerable to interception by cyber attackers. Modern cloud computing solutions rely very heavily upon data being in constant transit between users and remote servers. According to the UK’s National Cyber Security Center, data in transit should be protected using:
Encryption
Data should be encrypted during transfer. Encryption refers to the practice of turning readable data into unreadable data until it can be decrypted using a decryption key. Sophisticated hackers can sometimes decrypt data themselves, but this is extremely rare. End-to-end encryption is now a standard feature in the cloud computing industry.
Network Protection
Encryption is great, but cybercriminals being blocked from even accessing encrypted data is even better. Anti-interception network protection methods prevent any kind of eavesdropping on data transit routes.
Conduct Regular Audits
New security weak points emerge over time. Hackers will figure out a way of exploiting a previously harmless bug in a program, for instance, and this could spell disaster for a company that had previously been considered secure. It is important to root out these emerging vulnerabilities before they can be exploited by nefarious actors. Hiring a third-party cyber security consultant to conduct a detailed audit of security vulnerabilities is a very good use of resources. For larger companies handling more sensitive data, ethical hackers can be hired to test defenses and find any emerging vulnerabilities.
