Last week we focused on the remote working aspect of being cyber aware. so what more can businesses do to protect their intellectual property and corporate environment? Well, quite a few things – some may already be in place, but with the evolution of cyber-attacks/breaches growing exponentially, maybe a little recap is in order.
Firewall Firewalls are essential to combat malicious attacks on an organisations network filtering the traffic and allowing you to selectively block IP addresses. More and more processes are becoming cloud-based and using a firewall to authorise/identify will protect that all important back-end database ensuring smoother running of the websites and applications. As yourself this question – is your current Firewall working to its full potential?
Secure Browsers V Popular Browsers What browsers do you use? Is there a company policy on preferences or do users choose to use whichever suits them? We all work in different ways and some organisations enforce the use of secure browsers, but if you do not want to hamper creativity and personal preferences, make sure your employees use the safe mode feature. If you are interested in looking at secure browsers, there are some different options out there, like: Epic Privacy Browser – Uses VPNs and the company says it blocks over 600 trackers in a typical session. Ecosia – I like this one as it doesn’t sell your search results to third parties or use trackers. There are others to consider, but they all have their pros and cons, so choose wisely.
Antivirus Installation and Updates Oh yes, the joys of the antivirus updates – frustrating as they can be, it is a necessary task to perform at desktop and network level because outdated antivirus or the security tools leads to potential breaches and highly detrimental to the business. Educate the importance across the whole business of ensuring regular updates and checks.
Virtual Private Network (VPN) Do you use a VPN? There is a lot of chatter about the pros and cons of a VPN in business, but if you have remote users who are using online resources, then a VPN may ensure the security of a connection and in turn will not risk the network or cloud resources. Some VPNs offer encryption features, and we suggest you look at reviews and comparisons to see which is right for your business. I use ExpressVPN and like it´s service, but there are many others out there worth looking at. For those companies relying on cloud solutions, VPNs are still extremely important and recommended.
Proxy Servers & Segregation of the Network Proxy Servers are like a VPN adding a layer of protection to online business activities. Having been around for many years, they can filter/monitor the traffic on the network and adherence to online policy. Because if can balance the website´s traffic (preventing downtime and glitching) it can improve productivity. Also, if you are a customer-focused organisation and want to offer WIFI facilities, create separate WIFI connections from your corporate environment – can you imagine the security implications if someone went rogue on your corporate WIFI.
Passwords & Two-Factor Authentication My head is full of passwords, codes etc. like us all, but I am getting my head around using more and more two-factor authentication (2FA) and using a Password Manager tool is the way forward, both individually and company-wide,
Next week we will focus on AI Enabled Security Solutions, but if you wish to have a chat on any of these topics, feel free to drop us a line as we value your input.