Cybersecurity Awareness Month: How Seeing Yourself in Cyber Can Protect Your Company Against Threats
This year’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month theme is “See Yourself in Cyber.” The theme focuses on how you can play a key part in cybersecurity.
As business owners and employees, cybersecurity should be top of mind year-round. However, Cybersecurity Awareness Month reminds you to take the time to understand your important role in cybersecurity and make sure your company has proper protections in place.
Here are some tips on how you can protect your company against cybersecurity threats:
1. Educate Yourself and Your Employees on Cybersecurity Threats
Make sure you and your employees are up-to-date on the latest cybersecurity threats by signing up for cybersecurity newsletters and alerts from trusted sources. The more you know about the types of threats out there, the better equipped you’ll be to protect your company against them.
Some of the most common cybersecurity threats to be aware of include internal, phishing attacks, malware, and ransomware.
Internal Attacks
This includes cyber threats that employees could let inside. In 2022, around 82% of data breaches involved a human element.
Phishing Attacks
These are attempts by cybercriminals to trick you into divulging sensitive information, such as passwords or credit card numbers. About 60% of surveyed leaders claimed their company lost data due to a successful phishing attack.
Malware
This is malicious software that can damage your computer or steal your data. The AV-TEST Institute registers over 450,000 new malicious programs every day.
Ransomware
This is a type of malware that encrypts your files and holds them. According to Verizon’s 2022 data breach report, the cases of ransomware attacks have increased by 13% to a total of 25% this year.
2. Implement Strong Cybersecurity Measures
Having strong cybersecurity measures in place is critical to protecting your company against cyber threats. This Cybersecurity Awareness Month also highlights several ways you can keep data secure including:
- Install and update anti-virus software
- Back up data regularly
- Restrict access to sensitive data
- Enable multi-factor authentication
- Use strong passwords
3. Update Your Software Regularly
One way to protect your company against cybersecurity threats is to make sure your software is up-to-date. Outdated software can leave you vulnerable to attacks, so it’s important to regularly check for updates and install them as soon as possible.
You can set your software to update automatically, or you can check for updates manually on a regular basis. Either way, it’s important to ensure your company’s cybersecurity defenses are as strong as possible to protect against the latest threats.
4. Incorporate Incident Response and Disaster Recovery Plans
Part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month is to be prepared. Even with strong cybersecurity measures in place, there’s always a possibility that your company could be targeted by a successful cyberattack. That’s why it’s important to have an incident response plan in place so you know what to do if an attack does occur.
Your incident response plan should include steps for identifying, containing, and eradicating the threat as well as steps for recovering any lost data.
Additionally, you should have a disaster recovery plan in place in case of a complete system shutdown. Your disaster recovery plan should include steps for backing up data, restoring lost data, and getting your systems up and running again as quickly as possible.
Fight Against Cybersecurity Threats with Total IT
Although Cybersecurity Awareness Month is coming to an end, the fight against cybersecurity threats is never-ending. Total IT is here to help you protect your company against the latest cybersecurity threats with our comprehensive cybersecurity solutions.
We can help you implement the latest cybersecurity technologies and best practices to keep your company safe. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you protect your business against cybersecurity threats.
