So we all know Cyber-crime is an ongoing threat, part of our daily lives that will not be going away. It seems, not a day goes by without reading yet another headline of another organisation you really would not expect to be hit, being the latest victim. At the very least leaving their company name dragged through the Cyber-Mud for years to come and their entire database extremely vulnerable.
As business decision makers, it is your responsibility to try and stay that one step ahead of the constant, ever advancing attempts on companies that any moment could be cast in your direction.
But where should you start – what’s the priority?! With so many products claiming to all prevent Cyber-attacks, how do you choose?
So here you are, DCS’ top 5 Cyber-security Essential Tips to help you fight back…
1. Back up!
Every cyber-prevention product you sign up to, or buy, can simply not guarantee you won’t be hit by a cyber-attack 100%… For sure, there are some brilliant products…but in the ever evolving dark world of cybercrime there will always be a (granted a much smaller) risk of cyber criminals infiltrating any system. It is at this point that your world potentially crashes down, the blood runs from your head to your heels and back again, that is unless you’re confident your data has automatically been backed up and more to the point recently! This literally gives you back the power. If your company was held to thousands ££££ in ransom, you then wouldn’t have the agonising decision of… “Should I pay to try and retrieve our data?” “Will I even get our data back if I do?” “If I pay this time – will they try again?” “Where the heck do I even get Bitcoins from?!” For any I.T. engineer to set about trying to retrieve your data it is a painstaking, time consuming act that will incur expensive costs and still cannot guarantee the amount they will be able to retrieve.
- Know your DCS options
Amber Vault Backup – Backups of your entire server infrastructure stored both on & offsite, encrypted and stored in a UK tier 3 data centre, reduced backup times, quick restore procedure, enables you to keep a longer history of backups, no rotation of backup tapes/media required.Amber Vault Lite – Offering the same level of security but for businesses who don’t have large amounts of data to be protected or maybe you only want to focus on those business critical data files you require, such as customer data, accounts information.
2. Educate your Staff!
Make your employees your effective ‘Human Firewall’. The most common and easiest way to be a victim of a cyber-attack is by one of your employees accidentally and innocently clicking on that very convincing link in the email they have just received. Are you confident that your staff could spot a suspicious mail?
- Know your DCS options
Cyber-security Awareness Training – Security Awareness Training & Testing (SATT) works by targeting the weakest cyber-security link in any organisation – the end users! Delivered in 3 stages that are fully managed – so no demands on your time!
Stage 1 – All employees are baselined, a test ‘Phishing’ email would be sent to all and then it would be reported back the click rate. This is normally shockingly high but don’t worry.
Stage 2 – All employees would then take part in a 15 minute on line (at their desk) training.
Stage 3 – Monthly test ‘Phishing’, for the remainder of the 12 month agreement your employees receive at different times and with different content, a test mail – if they click on this they would then have to sit an additional in-depth 40 minute training (at their desk).
All DCS employees have carried out this training. “On the initial baseline test 93% of people opened the email, 73% of people clicked on the link. In January this year we were down to 6% on both, so a huge improvement, even I’m surprised we get any clicks now. I would definitely recommend this as a product, it’s raised awareness hugely and the January results prove that we’re still prone to slip ups.” Patrick Clayton, DCS Managing Director.Cyber-security Awareness Training also now has a GDPR training session that can purchased as a bolt on to SATT training or a stand-alone module.
3. Up to date Anti-Virus Software!
It should go without saying that you keep your business PCs updated with all the relevant updates. No system should be left without an up to date Anti-Virus software installed. But also don’t forget those employees who work in & out of the office on their mobile devices, or laptops – are they all using company provided tech that have the same level of security for all staff, or do you have some working on their own personal laptops/phones – do you know what they are searching and how safe they are?
- Know your DCS options
ESET – Can offer all aspects of internet security for your business from protecting every PC, company laptop/mobile phone/tablet with virus protection and Data Encryption.
4. Spam Filtering!
We have all been there, with an inbox full of emails regarding some crazy diet pill that will make you lose 20 stone in 24 hours – no side effects, honest! Or some other equally random spam email potentially filling inboxes, preventing your actual work emails getting through and guaranteed to have some link within it that will not end well if clicked!
- Know your DCS options
EveryCloud – Imagine a world where you only received a couple of emails every day, within which contained lists of emails that were potential spam, enabling you to scan over and instruct whether you would like that mail to be delivered or whitelisted, or remain on EveryCloud’s servers. The definite spam never making it through – therefore reducing massively the potential cyber threats received every day in your inbox!
5. Web Filtering!
Do you know what your employees are looking at whilst at work? Are all the sites they’re searching for safe and secure? Or is there a chance they could be going through to a website that may look perfectly innocent, may have even been designed to look like their own bank website for example…one click and they could be faced with their PC monitor screen being hijacked! And a world of problems for you! Or maybe you just want to control what websites they can access and when, social media, book makers, On-line shopping….do you allow access? Or maybe you would only want access over lunch time?
- Know your DCS options
Barracuda – Using a continually updated database, Barracuda proactively monitors content; malware; social media and rogue App threats, blocking them from reaching your PC and notifying your administrator when threats are found. Gives administrators clear visibility into web activity.
And don’t forget… DCS can offer a no obligation site visit, an on-site verification activity including inspection and examination to give you peace of mind. DCS will use one of our engineers who will check your IT systems to find any weaknesses, and ensure that your network is breach resistant, providing a report with recommendations.