How to Protect Your Data From Breaches
If you’re concerned about corporate network security at your business, you may be wondering how you can maximize your cyber security, maintain effective risk management, and take proper security measures to protect your data. With this cybersecurity checklist from Technetics Consulting, you can make sure that you’re protected from data breaches, hacking, and other malicious attacks.
1. Keep Corporate Data Off Of Personal Devices
It’s very important to keep corporate data off of personal devices, including both laptops and mobile devices. If your employees use laptops or mobile phones for work, they should be using devices that are issued by your IT department, are password protected, and can be remotely wiped if they are lost, misplaced, or stolen.
Allowing someone to gain access to a device with access to your IT systems and corporate network can be a huge IT security risk – so make sure you keep personal and work devices separate for your employees.
2. Update All Firmware, Software & Operating Systems Regularly
This is one of the most important things you and your IT team can focus on. You need to regularly update each worker’s computer, the programs they use regularly, and your servers, networking equipment, website, and all other IT assets used at your business.
Outdated software and firmware is a major attack vector for hackers. Regular patching is essential to make sure you always fix known exploits and protect yourself from hacking and data theft.
3. Train Employees On Phishing Attacks
Phishing attacks are more common today than they have ever been before – and more than 65% of all malicious hackers use phishing as part of their strategy.
Phishing involves tricking employees into clicking emails that look innocuous but often contain keyloggers or malware that can observe their activity on their computers and steal their login information and other credentials.
Make sure to create a solid security awareness training program related to phishing at your company, and create policies and best practices about opening emails from unknown sources to discourage employees from clicking potentially-dangerous links or downloading infected attachments.
4. Create An Incident Response Plan
You never want to have a data breach occur at your company – but if it does, responding in a timely manner is essential for minimizing its impact and getting back to your business’s day-to-day activities.
That means you need to create an incident response plan with the help of your IT team members, detailing what will happen if a breach occurs. How will it be resolved? How will backup data be restored? Who will notify the authorities? Working out these details beforehand ensures a speedy response during the incident.
5. Use VPNs & Other Best Practices For Remote Access To Your Network
Working from home is becoming more and more common in Australia and many other countries. But if you have remote workers, you need to make sure that you protect your network by taking steps like:
- Sending remote workers computers that are intended only for work purposes, so that they do not use personal devices to access your business network
- Discouraging the use of public WiFi hotspots in parks, coffee shops, restaurants and other areas
- Implementing a VPN to encrypt and secure web traffic from remote workers and add another layer of protection
- Use 2-factor authentication to reduce the risk of data loss if a remote user loses their device or their passwords are breached
Need More Help? Contact Technetics Consulting Today
This cyber security checklist is a great place to start, but if you’re looking for more ways to lock down your data, Technetics Consulting is here to help with cyber security audits in Australia. We can examine every element of your information security plan and create a security audit checklist to ensure that you are protected from cyber threats.
Contact us online or give us a ring at 1300 853 453 now to get started, and see how you can secure data and your network and stay protected from today’s top cyber threats. Whether you’re interested in IT security consulting, managed IT services, or any other IT services in Australia, we’re here to help.