Seven basic practices to help secure your business

Between March 2019-2020, almost half of businesses (46%) and a quarter of charities (26%) had reported having a cyber security break or attack.

Last year alone saw over 4.5 billion Internet active users as of July 2020 where breaches almost doubled in comparison to 2019. Many businesses had to operate remotely providing hackers with the opportunity to increase their attacks.

So, what should you be doing to prepare yourself for 2021? What should your business and employees look to improve this year?

1. Revisit Old Passwords

It’s important that we regularly update our passwords and accounts and attempt to change those which are highest at risk. These include passwords that are short, easily guessed or a word/number with a unique meaning to us such as date of birth, maiden name, address and pet name etc.

Our top tip if you want to find or remember old passwords is to use a password manager like LastPass to help store all your account passwords.

2. Setting up a Two-Factor Authentication

Often referred to as 2FA and used to confirm that you are the person you are claiming to be when you’re using online services, such as email, banking or social media. If you have set up an account with 2FA, then even if a criminal knows your password, they won’t be able to access your accounts.

3. Incident Response Strategy

We understand it’s impossible to protect your business against every threat. However, by implementing a well thought out and thoroughly tested incident response plan, like Disaster Recovery as a Service, will help you minimise the impact if there was a successful attack.

4. Antivirus Protection

If your business falls victim to a malware, a virus or any other type of cyber-attack, its performance will be hindered significantly. That’s why it’s important to have a antivirus protection software in place like SentinelOne – the next generation of antivirus protection.

5. Review your Privacy Settings

You might have recently purchased a new device or forgot to look at your security settings for a while but reviewing your settings will help you stay protected against the latest threats.

6. Secure Remote Access

With government guidelines in place many of us will have several users working remotely but it’s important to ensure they aren’t opening the door to any potential threats. That’s why we recommend using a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which uses strong encryption to protect sensitive data.

7. Backup

Providing reliable and frequent backup is a good practice to prevent ransomware attacks. Let’s not forget about the data you might have stored in the cloud – this too could also be targeted by ransomware.

How can we help?

Here at Kick, we offer a range of services and support and work with a wide variety of leading technology providers to deliver a scalable, safe and secure IT environment for our customers. For more information on our Managed Services visit our website or get in touch if we can be of any help to your business or contact our sales team direct on 01698 844 600.