Think small means safe? Think again. While many small business owners may think that their company is safe from viruses, hackers, or malware, in reality, data thieves are simply looking for the path of least resistance. In fact, according to a study by Symantec, around 40% of attacks are against organisations with less than 500 employees.
As technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, so do hackers.
With this in mind, it’s crucial that your security strategy is sound. If you’re wondering how to create a cybersecurity prevention plan that’s proactive, and not reactive, then read on, as we offer actionable advice on how to prevent cybersecurity attacks through solid prevention.
Assess your current cyber hygiene
Cyber Essentials is a Government-backed, industry-supported scheme to help organisations protect themselves against common online threats and is designed to help businesses improve their cyber hygiene practices. Companies can either self-assess or go through a certified body, to assess and take action on new information in order to identify vulnerabilities, remediate them and minimize the window of opportunity.
Doing this will not only lead you one step closer to preventing a cybersecurity attack, but also show your customers just how committed you are to keeping data safe.
Good housekeeping
This point is all about forming good habits. Make a habit of conducting regular maintenance and audits – just like any habit you wish to make stick, it requires routine and repetition.
Aside from forming these good habits and performing regular patching and updates, it’s always worth taking the time to audit employee file and server access. Patches, updates and virus protection along with strong firewalls and Data leak prevention are key, all of which Cybrid provide as a matter of course to proactive support clients. With over 70% of data breaches occurring due to internal vulnerabilities, make sure that people have access to only the files that they need. The fewer people that have access to confidential information, the lesser chance of internal cyber threats.
Raise awareness, stay vigilant
Employee cybersecurity training, either conducted by your own company or by an external specialist organisation, is worth its weight in gold. Helping to raise awareness of cyber attacks, and giving helpful advice on how to stay vigilant, training can help to educate employees to spot malicious activity and can reduce human error leading to breaches.
Layered prevention approach
Proactive monitoring technology such as Darktrace can help to monitor and flag potential threats before a cyberattack occurs. It can discern patterns in the communications between different users and devices, detect novel threats as they unfold, and autonomously fight back.
Powered by machine learning and AI, Darktrace identifies threats that legacy tools can miss. It learns what is normal for your organisation and constantly adapts its understanding as your environment changes over time and as threats mutate. By combining human and artificial threat intelligence, these monitoring services can find your vulnerabilities, making them a key part of your cyber attack prevention plan.
While this may seem to be a more costly solution, the cost of investing in prevention tools is well worth the peace of mind and is much less than the cost of a cyber attack on your business.
Better safe than sorry
While there may be no one solution to stopping cybercriminals, training employees, running regular updates and protecting your data are essential parts of protecting your business.
Would you like to know more about cybersecurity and how we can help? Contact us today to speak to a specialist.