10 Best Practices Against Cyber Security Breaches
Cybersecurity breaches are a constant threat to any business, and they can cause serious damage to your operations, finances, and reputation. That’s why you need to be prepared for the worst and have a plan to recover quickly.
Cyber-resilience is not just about having the best security tools and systems. It is about the ability to withstand and recover from cybersecurity breaches, and it should be a key part of your business strategy. It’s also about having the right mindset and practices to prevent cyber security breaches from happening in the first place, and to minimize their impact if they do.
Here are some tips on how to achieve cyber-resilience for your business:
Tip 1: Build a strong cybersecurity team
You need to have experts who know how to detect, prevent, and respond to cyberattacks. Look for people who have experience in dealing with different types of cybersecurity breaches, and who can identify and fix the vulnerabilities in your IT infrastructure. A good cybersecurity team can help you maintain business continuity and protect your data and assets.
Tip 2: Use a password-manager for all your accounts
Passwords are one of the most common ways that hackers can access your systems and data. To avoid using weak or reused passwords, you should use a password manager that can generate and store strong and unique passwords for each of your accounts. Some of the best password managers for SMBs are Bitwarden, 1Password Business, Authlogics Password Security Management, Ivanti Password Director, Keeper Enterprise Password Management, NordPass and Specops Software Password Management.
Tip 3: Enable multi-factor authentication for extra security
Multi Factor authentication (MFA) is a simple but effective way to add another layer of protection to your accounts. It requires you to verify your identity with something you have (such as a phone or a token), something you are (such as a fingerprint or a face scan), or something you do (such as a gesture or a pattern). MFA can prevent hackers from accessing your accounts even if they have your password. MFA is also a good way to demonstrate your zero-trust security approach, which assumes that no one and nothing can be trusted by default.
Tip 4: Reduce your attack surface with microsegmentation
Microsegmentation is a technique that divides your network and infrastructure into smaller and more isolated units, such as devices, identities, and sensors. This way, you can limit the access and movement of potential attackers within your system, and prevent them from reaching your critical data and assets. Microsegmentation can also help you enforce granular security policies and monitor your network activity more effectively.
Tip 5: Isolate your browser sessions with remote browser isolation (RBI)
Browser sessions are often the entry point for cyberattacks, as hackers can exploit the vulnerabilities in web applications and browsers. RBI is a solution that isolates your browser sessions from your local device and network, and runs them on a remote server. This way, you can prevent any malicious code or content from reaching your device or network, and ensure a secure and seamless browsing experience. RBI is especially useful for businesses that have distributed workforces and partners, and that need to access various web applications and sites.
Tip 6: Back up your data regularly and securely
Data backups are vital for preventing long-term damage after a data breach. Data backups must be encrypted and captured in real time across transaction systems. Businesses are backing up and encrypting every website and portal across their external and internal networks to protect against a breach. Regular data backups are essential for companies and website owners to reduce the risk of data breaches.
Tip 7: Control who has access to your endpoints, applications and systems
All identity-related activity should be audited and tracked to close trust gaps and lower the threat of insider attacks. Unnecessary access privileges, such as those of expired accounts, must be removed.
Tip 8: Automate patch management to save time for the IT team
IT teams are understaffed and often involved in urgent, unplanned projects. Yet patches are crucial for preventing a cybersecurity breach and must be done on time to avoid the risk of a cyberattacker finding a weakness in infrastructure before it is secured.
Tip 9: Audit and update your cloud-based email security suites regularly
Performing regular checks of cloud-based email security suites and system settings, including verifying the software versions and all up-to-date patches, is critical. Testing security protocols and ensuring all user accounts are up-to-date is also a must. Set up continuous system auditing to ensure that any changes are properly logged and no suspicious activity occurs.
Tip 10: Upgrade to self-healing endpoint protection platforms (EPP) to bounce back from breaches and intrusions
Businesses need to consider how they can bring more cyber-resilience to their endpoints. Fortunately, a group of vendors has worked to bring to market innovations in self-healing endpoint technologies, systems and platforms.
Become more cyber-resilient to handle cyber security breaches better
Having a breach-aware mindset is crucial to achieving business continuity and getting results from zero-trust security strategies. To improve cyber-resilience, businesses need to invest in technologies and strategies that improve their ability to respond, recover, and continue to operate.
Key strategies include:
- Hiring experienced cyber security professionals
- Using password managers
- Implementing multi-factor authentication
- Using micro-segmentation to limit attack surfaces
- Using remote browser isolation
- Keeping regular backups of data
- Controlling administrators’ access privileges
- Automating patch management
- Auditing and updating cloud-based email security suites
- Upgrading to self-healing endpoint protection platforms
When businesses become more cyber-resilient, they will be better prepared to deal with a cyber security breach, minimize its impact, and quickly recover.