Cyber Security

’tis the season for cybercriminals

Securing your data this Christmas

The Christmas holidays are fast approaching. While we start to wind down to enjoy the office party, activate out-of-office messages, and crack open the Buck Fizz, beware! Cybercriminals are poised to steal your data.

But all that Christmas good cheer doesn’t need to result in the reality of hefty fines and ICO investigations when you return to the office. Read or blog for our top 5 tips on protecting your business’ data over the festive period and ensure the only hard realities you face are the usual ones. Looking at you, overindulgence!

1. Update your antivirus software

Ensuring that all your computers and laptops have the most up-to-date antivirus and anti-malware installed is essential for safeguarding your business data. If you control your admin permissions, you can push the updates through network management admin. Or ask all your employees to run an auto-update on all programmes. Ask your IT service provider if they can check that all your security applications are up to date. Don’t forget to ask your service provider for firmware versions running on firewalls and server platforms – these all need to be on the latest patch. Also, ensure that you back up your data and that your backup works as intended.

2. Educate your employees on securing their email

All employees should be aware of this rule: if in doubt, don’t click! Malicious phishing emails will attempt to trick you into sharing information online. Be suspicious of any email that looks strange from well-known and unknown sources. Please don’t open any attachments or click any links you are unsure of, and immediately delete the email or send it to your administrator to investigate.

3. Password Security

Scary fact: 59% of people use the same password everywhere! An excellent way to ensure your company’s data is secure is to audit all admin logins to critical servers, networks, and applications. Passwords should contain special characters, be alpha-numeric and include upper and lower case. Make sure that you amend settings to make your passwords unreadable. Even better is to set up SSH Keys on your servers. SSH keys provide a more secure way of logging into a server than using a password alone, and they are nearly impossible for cybercriminals to decipher.

4. Audit your firewall policies

Firewalls are the first line of defence for preventing unauthorized users from accessing your online information. Check, or ask your IT service provider whether your firewall has any legacy configurations or unused policies. These dodgy connections could be impeding your firewall’s effectiveness. This work can be complicated, but it is worth doing to protect for your data.

5. Invest in quality security systems

Smaller businesses might hesitate at the cost of investing in good quality cybersecurity. But making that decision could ultimately save companies from the financial and legal cost of a data breach. Your devices and applications should have strong antivirus and malware protection, and your company should also be backing up data and running regular security checks.

Ensuring that customers are protected and secure is one of the highest priorities for SoConnect. We will explore cybersecurity with you during our IT Risk Management planning, helping to clarify any potential risks in your IT security. We’re equipped with the latest technology to allow us to monitor your IT systems and hardware security 24/7/365, allowing our team to act fast if an issue is identified.