Three Best Practices to Avoid Getting Hacked

Three Best Practices to Avoid Getting Hacked

Data breaches can cripple companies and can come from a lot of different directions. They can be the result of phishing attacks where your staff unwittingly gives hackers access to your business’ resources. It can come from a brute force attack where hackers use innovative tools to break into your network. It can even be the work of disgruntled employees who use their access to steal company data. This month, we want to outline the top three things you can do to keep your business from being hacked. 

What Do We Mean By Being Hacked?

When you get the mental image of a hacker, you probably think of a heavily pierced lone operator dressed all in black at a laptop in a grubby room, flawlessly typing code. While these people may exist, most hackers are simply opportunists who use human behavior more than code to infiltrate computing systems. There are a few actions you can take to significantly lower the chances of these opportunists accessing your business’ data. 

Let’s go through a few:

Implement Strong Access Controls and Authentication

The first thing you will want to do is set up strategic access control. Most accounts nowadays come with a multi-factor authentication option that requires multiple forms of verification before granting access to systems or data. This adds an extra layer of security beyond just passwords. 

Another thing to consider is setting up role-based access controls. This allows you to limit access to data and systems based on an employee’s role within the company. With employees only having access to the information necessary for their job functions, you don’t have to fret that they could jeopardize other data.

Finally, you should enforce the use of complex passwords. The best way to do this is to use a password manager to help employees create and manage their passwords without remembering them all. 

Regularly Update and Patch Systems

Cybercrime is often carried out against a company that has active holes in its network and infrastructure. This is mostly because the company fails to properly update its software and firmware in a timely manner. As these updates often include security fixes for known vulnerabilities, they can be a big step toward keeping unwanted actors out of your network.

A good practice is to automate as many updates as you can. You can create systems that automatically install updates and patches. This helps to decrease the likelihood of missing crucial security updates. By setting up these systems, you can ensure that your software is always updated with the latest security measures. This can help protect your devices and data from potential security threats.

Employee Training and Awareness

Some organizations that don’t get hacked have a comprehensive end-to-end security training platform. Even if you can’t afford something like that, regularly training employees on cybersecurity best practices, including recognizing phishing attacks, avoiding suspicious downloads, and understanding the importance of security processes, can go a long way toward keeping your network and infrastructure secure. 

We Can Help You Keep Hackers Out

If you need help with your organizational cybersecurity (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?) give the IT professionals at White Mountain IT Services a call today at (603) 889-0800 to get started.

White Mountain IT

Related Posts

Did You Trade Your Data for a DVD Rental?

In June of this year, publisher Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, best known for its book series of the same name, filed for Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy and had many of its assets liquidated. One of these assets was the movie rental service Redbox and its eponymous scarlet rental kiosks, rendering the service defunct. However, many kiosks remain standing outside businesses even now...

With a Massive Botnet Recently Disrupted, Let’s Review What a Botnet Is

It was very recently revealed that a global law enforcement effort took down a massive botnet that was in action for almost a decade. In light of this, we wanted to review what a botnet is and how it works, drawing from these events for some context. Let’s begin by summarizing the situation. A Botnet, Potentially the Biggest Ever, Was Disrupted It has been alleged by the Justice Department th...

What We Like About Android’s Latest Security Additions

Android 16 is now officially available for device manufacturers to implement, introducing significant enhancements to security through a new mode: Advanced Protection. Let’s focus on these enhancements and how they have altered a user’s built-in security within the operating system.  What is Advanced Protection? If you’re especially on the ball, you may have stopped and thought, “Wait, wasn’t ...

Scare Tactics and Business IT Don’t Mix

Fear is a powerful motivator, but it is a terrible foundation for managing business technology. When IT providers use high-pressure scare tactics to manufacture panic, business leaders are pushed into making rushed, expensive decisions that do not actually improve operational security or resilience. That is an unnecessary risk. Manufactured Alarm Helps the Provider, Not You Some IT providers r...