How to Get Ahead of Cyber Threats

New cyber-security threats pop-up on a daily basis. At the same press conference mentioned in our previous article, defense minister, Linda Reynolds, advised that the recent cyber-attacks on Australian institutions were increasing in frequency, scale, in sophistication, and in its impact.

As security experts ourselves, we know this too, and being ahead in cyber-security is now more important than ever.

It may seem like a daunting prospect, however, protecting businesses from breaches should be a top priority. If you expect to get ahead of the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats, you must start taking action and putting cyber-security at the forefront.

We share the same concerns for cybersecurity, so today we’d like to encourage you to consider these practical steps for securing your data:

Always Be Prepared For An Attack

No matter the size, no business or system can be 100% free from cyber-attacks. Every institution that handles data can be at risk. SMBs are especially vulnerable, as it is reported that over 60 per cent of small businesses don’t survive a cyber-attack. New threats emerge every day and it can be tricky to predict when or what the next attack can be. Vigilance is key, now more than ever. This should dictate what your next move is going to be or what protocols to implement.

When starting a cybersecurity protocol, your first point of defence will be to assess what exactly within the business needs the most security. Assess business assets such as services, processes, and devices and keeping a vigilant eye on these areas of your systems.

Education

Your employees, when properly trained, can become your greatest asset in protecting systems from cyber attack. Prioritise team meetings, trainings, seminars, and simulations to better equip your team with the information necessary to be leaders in cybersecurity.

As your employees become familiar with the protocols and processes, it’s advisable to run regular drills so they feel comfortable rolling out strategies and can hash out issues before they occur in a real-life situation.

Practice Good ‘Password Hygiene’

ASCS highlights the importance of multi-factor authentication to add an extra layer of security to your data. Not changing passwords regularly or weak passwords can put both your organisation and your users’ personal accounts at risk. Now is as good a time as any to conduct a password audit. A password audit will assess the strength of users passwords, in particular looking for obvious weaknesses such as common numbers or common passwords such as the word password itself.

Check Your Back-ups

Do you have off-site backups? Safeguarding data offsite in a reliable and efficient way is crucial to keeping data safe. A service such as Backup as a Service or Disaster Recovery is something that you might not have come to consider but it is something businesses truly need. Our back-ups offer you granular restoration, complete visibility and control, end-to-end encryption, and WAN acceleration, all the while offering unlimited data transfer at no cost to you.

Firewall Management

As you already know, Firewall is your main point of traffic and thereby is one very important aspect of cybersecurity. So we ask you; when was the last time you checked old and outdated firewall policies? Choosing a fully managed firewall will afford you enterprise-grade security in a low latency solutions package that predicts and prevents attacks before they happen.

We trust Fortinet with our security and we know that you will too.

The cyber.gov.au website released an advisory titled ‘copy-paste compromises’ stating the techniques used in the recent cyber-attack where they also detail their mitigation strategy called ‘The Essential Eight’ to help you on your way to securing your online systems. You can find this resource here.

If you do happen to come under attack, you can report online cybercrime to ReportCyber. This website also includes current and active cybercrime alerts for your perusal.

For guidance and advice, contact our cloud and telco experts here or on 1300 781 148.