Cyber-crime and it’s costly after effects are a constant worry for businesses of all sizes. The frequency, breadth and sophistication of these attacks are increasing all the time and it’s imperative that you secure your network as efficiently and as effectively as possible to prevent financial loss, damaged online business reputations and mitigate, as far as possible, this rising cyber threat. In this article we provide a checklist you can use to help ensure your business is secure over the next twelve months.
Is your IT network security policy fit for purpose?
Cyber security is a team effort and your business as a whole should have a robust policy in place that everybody understands and agrees to. Take a look at the following to inspire your own approach.
- Itemize your USB drives and create a list of personnel with access to them.
- Audit your business critical data and identify the information that requires regular backup.
- A secure password creation strategy is critical; create one for your business and make the whole team aware of it.
- Keep your ear to the ground in your industry for any potential cyber security threats you should specifically be aware of. Always stay up to date.
- Roll out requisite IT security training for key staff and make sure your workforce is always informed of changes or updates to the IT security policy.
Create a network security checklist
With your IT security policy in place it’s time to implement your strategy; making sure all the technical requirements are met, that all your staff know their responsibilities to overall IT security and that you have secured the help of third party security experts, such as FraudWatch International, where appropriate.
- Install an adequate and robust firewall system and make sure your IT staff know how to maintain and update it as required.
- Keep your anti-virus software up to date. Audit your existing solution and check that it is good enough to cover you for all potential threats (you get what you pay for, so get the best you can afford).
- Check all physical ports (USB, drives etc) are locked down and only used by authorized staff.
- Password management software can help you and your team to keep a robust password policy in place, these can often be user friendly smart phone applications.
- Always maintain regular backups of critical business data. If you are backing up to the cloud then consider keeping a copy offline and offsite on a separate physical drive.
- Ensure that staff keep all devices updated with the latest security patches and operating systems, especially those kept and used offsite.
- As far as you can, ensure all data backups, security and software updates are automated to make sure nothing gets missed.
- Business email accounts should all use 2-factor authentication as an extra security layer
- Keep any third party software download access restricted or monitored so that no threats slip through the net.
Armed with an up to date network security policy and checklist that your entire team is aware of, you will help to keep your business safe from any costly, potential cyber attacks over the next year and beyond.
