Preparation Is The Key: 7 Changes To Make Your Business More Secure

With Cyber Attacks and breaches making the headlines on an almost daily basis, the importance of effective Cyber Security has never been higher. 

To help prepare your business for an attack or breach, SES have devised a short list of 7 things you can do to make your business even more secure:

1. Be More Diligent: 

According to a recent Government survey, the most common types of breaches were related to staff opening fraudulent emails (72% of cases where firms identified a breach or attack). 

Characteristics which may indicate an email is suspicious include: 

• The senders email doesn’t correspond to the trusted organisations website address, coming from a different or free email address. 
• The email does not use your proper name but uses a generic greeting such as “Dear Customer”. 
• A sense of urgency is created, such as a threat that your account may be closed if you do not act immediately. 
• A prominent website link – Check all characters as if even a single character is different you will be referred to a different website. 
• Shortened URL’s which may mask their intended destination. 
• Direct requests for personal information: usernames, passwords and bank accounts.
• Spelling and grammatical errors in the email.
• You weren’t expecting to receive an email from the company which sent it. 

Some of the basics when dealing with suspicious emails or emails from unknown sources include: 

• Training your staff to be more diligent when opening emails.
• Not clicking links.
• Not replying to and not opening attachments on emails which look suspicious or are from unknown senders.

We also advise that if you do happen to click links on these suspicious emails, do not supply any information you are directed to.

2. Back It Up: 

Backing up your business critical data will help you defend against the form of malware known as ransomware. Ransomware attacks involve hackers encrypting the data on your computer and demanding payment to decrypt and release your files. By creating regular backup, your data cannot be held to ransom as you can just restore the backup. 

3. Two Factor Authentication: 

Using Two Factor Authentication on every website or system which supports it is a guaranteed way of increasing security and reducing identify theft as a criminal would need more than just your username and password to access your accounts. “Two Factor Authentication” or “Multi Factor Authentication” as it is also known requires ta piece of information that only the user will know, or have such as a text with a code, a code from an RSA token or a fingerprint to unlock the account you are trying to access alongside standard login credentials. 

4. Encryption: 

Enabling built in disk encryption on your computer is a great way of protecting the data on your computer. 

Encryption is a great tool because it protects you against both Cyber and physical data attacks. If an attacker were to steal your laptop, they wouldn’t be able to access the data and you would have only lost the hardware. 

5. Updates, Patches and Anti-Virus: 

Updating to the latest version of your operating system can keep you safe by adding new security protections. 

All Windows PC’s come with Windows Defender as standard which we recommend you keep turned on. We also recommend using additional antivirus software to protect your computers.

Hackers will take advantage of any out of date software, exploiting its flaws and use them as a gateway into your computer or network. 

6. Set Privileges and Limit Access: 

Making sure all employees have their own log in information ensures that each employee only has access to the technology that they need to do their job. 

Remember, not to give administration access to standard users as this would make it much easier for a malicious individual to gain administrative access to your network in the event they were to obtain the login credentials of one of your users.

Setting privileges also ensures that employees can only access the company data that they need, stopping unauthorised access to company computers, accounts and data and reducing the likelihood of breaches from within. 

7. Secure Your Wi-Fi: 

Using a business Wi-Fi is an easy way for employees to access and share files. Securing your Wi-Fi so only your employees can access it and setting up a separate Wi-Fi for your customers and guests will prevent unauthorised individuals joining your Wi-Fi and accessing your files.

Once you have followed the steps on this list, why not speak to one of our specialists about the Cyber Security solutions we offer to check your networks for vulnerabilities and test your organisations defences? 

If you are interested in finding out more about how SES can help you identify and remediate and weaknesses in your Cyber Security, minimising your attack surfaces and reducing the impact to your organisation in the event of an attack, please get in touch and one of our specialists will get back to you within one business day. 

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