Protecting Your Organization from Cyber Crime

Written by KOVA Corp

These days, the most dangerous threat to businesses and organizations won't be seen walking through your door. Instead, it will breach your organization’s walls through your network, coming in over your wifi - and you may not even find out about it until months or years later.

Unlike physical security threats, which don't change much over time, cyber threats evolve and change quickly - so quickly, in fact, that it can be a real challenge to keep up. Last year, the Business Continuity Institute named cyber crime the biggest threat to businesses in 2016, and that prediction seems to be holding true. With organizations from major film studios to presidential campaigns suffering from cyber attacks, there’s no excuse for not focusing on data security. Here are 4 tips for making your organization safer from cyber crime.

Always update and patch your operating systems

There's a reason your system provider releases updates. Sometimes it's to improve functionality, but there's also, almost always, a security issue that's being addressed.

Failing to update your software on time can mean that you’re vulnerable to the latest methods that hackers are using to attack your systems. Since these become more sophisticated as time goes on, it’s vital to ensure that your network maintains the latest cyber defenses at all times.

The same is true of patches, which are pieces of software that fix a specific problem within a larger operating system. Sometimes they’re to fix a bug, but more often, they’re to address a security vulnerability.

Utilize encryption throughout your system, especially in the cloud

Encryption, which means that your data is scrambled so as to be unreadable by intruders, is one of the most basic steps in ensuring your organization’s cyber security. Data “at rest” - in other words, data that is not currently being used or viewed by someone - should always be encrypted.

This is achievable with simple encryption software, although many software solutions like the Verint Media Recorder automatically encrypt all data.

If you have files that are especially sensitive, you may want to consider using file encryption in addition to your system-wide encryption. And if you’re storing information in the cloud, ensure the service you’re using employs industry-standard or better encryption.

In the past, storing data in the cloud was often seen as less secure than storing it in on-site servers, but according to the publication Information Age, this isn’t the case. The real issue is not where your data is located, but how accessible it is, reports TechTarget.

Control data accessibility at every level of your organization

On that note, it’s important to realize that hackers can’t break into your systems unless there’s a vulnerability. And while there’s bound to be a vulnerability, however tiny, in nearly every system, you can do a great deal to prevent additional ones from appearing.

The most effective way to do this is to control who has access to your data at every level of the organization. This means not using the same password for multiple databases, or keeping one password for more than a year.

Instead, use a password manager. These programs save your passwords securely, allowing you to create random or highly secure passwords without having to worry about remembering them. Some programs even offer additional levels of security by requiring that a physical fob be placed into the device in order to unlock the passwords.

Build a workplace culture that prioritizes data security

Believe it or not, insider attacks have been rated the number one cyber security risk to organizations by CIO magazine.

If your workplace culture isn’t one that prioritizes data security, employees may be much more likely to share login information, discuss classified information, or use their own password to help a colleague log in to a database he or she isn’t supposed to have access to.

While there may be no malicious intent behind any of these actions, this can lead to situations that make your data much more vulnerable to attack. And if there is a disgruntled employee or ex-employee who intends to do harm to your organization, he or she will be able to carry it out much more easily if the culture around data security is too relaxed.

Cyber security should be a major concern for not only IT leaders, but all organizational leaders. To read more about protecting your company from these attacks, read our post “The Importance of Proactive Cyber Security for Contact Centers.”

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