By Jerry Mooney
With British Airways passengers recently stranded in airports all over the world, it becomes evident that the threat of a cyber attack is only getting bigger and bigger. BA is the latest in a long list of names to suffer an outage due to a breach, and they certainly won’t be the last. No business is immune to the threat of a data breach, no matter how big or small. With that in mind, below we take a look at the cyber security mistakes your business could be making so that you can put them right before it is too late.
Lack of employee training - Did you know that employees are one of the main reasons for cyber breaches? A lack of training can cause employees to make mistakes that result in hackers finding a way into your systems. All businesses need to train their members of staff on safe procedures to follow when online. Some of the basic vulnerabilities you need to go over include handling or disposing of sensitive data, opening or responding to phishing apps or emails, opening infected web pages or email attachments, and reusing passwords or choosing weak passwords.
No firewalls - A lot of business owners underestimate the importance of having firewalls in place, and we don’t mean the free firewalls that can be downloaded online. You need something substantial that is going to act as an effective security layer; alerting you if any malware is trying to infect your computer so that you can prevent it from finding a way in. A good option is Juniper firewall.
Failing to segment your environment - Network segmentation is pivotal for all businesses. If you have everything, from PoS systems to self-service kiosks, on the same network, you are leaving your business exposed. After all, as soon as a hacker breaches one area of your business, they are going to have access to everything on the network.
Overlooking website security - Your website is one part of your online presence that requires a stringent security strategy put in place. If you use outdated software or you fail to choose a third party hosting provider with care, you could find yourself falling victim to an attack. Here are some great tips on securing your website.
Not encrypting sensitive data - Unfortunately, it is impossible to make your business 100% secure, no matter how hard you try. Therefore, you should not focus all of your efforts on keeping hackers out. You also need to pay some attention to what would happen if cyber criminals found their way in. By encrypting your data, you ensure that it cannot be read. Therefore, while hackers may have breached your system, they cannot steal any sensitive data because it is in an unreadable code.
Bad passwords - This is one of the biggest sins of them all, and there are no excuses for having a bad password. You always need to change the default passwords you have been supplied with, and your new password should contain numbers, upper and lower case letters, and special characters. Plus, make sure that your employees change their passwords regularly for enhanced security.
