Cyber security can be a minefield. You can install firewalls, and draw up comprehensive cyber security policies, but the truth is that there are so many moving parts to good cyber security that businesses can still make mistakes far too easily. So along with following the basics, we thought we’d recommend a few areas to keep an eye on if you’d rather your business wasn’t a target for cybercriminals.
Insider threats
These are security issues that are caused by both current and ex-employees. E.g. a bad actor offering access to sensitive information for money. Insider threats often have a number of tell-tale signs.
These include:
- Using unauthorised storage devices like USBs or floppy disks
- Emailing sensitive data outside the organisation
- Hoarding sensitive data by copying it into folders
- Working a lot during off-hours
- Attempting to bypass security
Keeping an eye out for these behaviours can prevent them from gaining momentum.
Human error
Similarly, employees can be the cause of a business’s security breaches by sheer accident; we’re all prone to error. Phishing scams are a cybercriminal’s number one method for bypassing security since it’s much easier to create a legitimate-looking email than crack a firewall. Beyond phishing scams, things like lost laptops and accidentally emailing sensitive documents outside the organisation can also cause serious problems. To mitigate these risks, having a strict and strong cyber security policy combined with security training, can help keep the cybercriminals at bay.
Whenever your employees use their emails on third-party websites, it puts your business at risk, as they tend to use the same password for several websites, including work and personal use. Another way information on the Dark Web can damage your business is for your staff to fall for common email scams like gift cards or credit card frauds, which can undermine your brand value and put your business at risk for fraudulent card use.
Outdated firewalls/antivirus
Every year new cyber security threats rear their ugly heads. This is because it’s the full-time job of a cybercriminal to create malware that a firewall or antivirus can’t detect. This is one of the reasons they’re updated every year. It’s essentially a game of digital cat and mouse. So, if you don’t want to make the job of a cybercriminal much easier, make sure your basic security technology is as up to date as possible.
Lack of patch management
Similarly, the software in all our IT needs to be updated whenever possible. This is done via patching. Patches are made to address any vulnerabilities that the manufacturer finds in their software after it’s been released. Along with having a formal patch management system in place, businesses should stick to the following best practices.
- Identify which pieces of software are likely to be the most vulnerable and patch those first.
- Automate each stage of the patching process.
- Ensure your patching process is centralised with patch management software.
The above areas are all required actions for any business looking to protect themselves from cybercriminals. But it’s just as plausible that your sensitive data is already online and within a cybercriminal’s clutches. This is where a dark web scan comes in. With one scan from Ratcliff, we can scour the dark web for your data so you can remedy the situation before a cybercriminal exploits it.
Click below to book your dark web scan.