Cybersecurity Month Recap

As we near the end of October, you’ve probably seen a lot of posts about Cybersecurity Awareness Month. The intent of this month is to encourage both individuals and organizations to take proactive steps to improve their security posture. This means making individuals accountable for how they behave with technology. If everyone participates in strong cybersecurity behaviors, this helps to deter bad actors from gaining personal or company wide information. This includes raising awareness to cybersecurity issues, educating on best practices, and implementing those practices.

In this month’s blog, we want to emphasize that cybersecurity should be recognized not only every month, but every day. So much of our lives are connected to technology. With the shift to working remotely due to the pandemic, our reliance on technology has increased more and more. Unfortunately, the more technology we use, the more ways there are for bad actors to access our data. Every day we, as an individual, should be taking precautions and staying educated on best practices when it comes to cybersecurity.

Here are a few things to remember as we move on from Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Create Strong Passwords – No more recycling your pet’s name, no more using 1234567 or your street address because it’s easy to remember. There are a lot of authentication and password tools out there to help you keep up with the number of passwords you have.  

Learn How to Recognize Phishing Attacks – Not only do we have to pay attention to phishing attempts via email, but we also need to be cautious of suspicious phone calls, text messages and chat bots. Hackers are becoming more and more sophisticated with phishing and it’s what most people end up falling for.

Practice Safe Internet Habits – Be aware and cautious of the things you download from the internet. If a website requires a credit card payment or personal information, make sure it’s a secure site.

Be Cautious of Open Wi-Fi – If you’re accessing sensitive company data at the local Starbucks while on their free wi-fi, you may want to think again. If your organization has compliance rules and regulations, you may need to make sure you’re on an encrypted/password protected network.

Turn on Multi-Factor Authentication – Having multi-factor authentication turned on when possible can help keep you safe if your password is compromised. That extra layer of protection will help deter bad actors from going any further.

Create Policies and Procedures – Having training policies in place for phishing and keeping your employees aware of every day cyber threats is a must have. Make sure your employees know what to do if they receive suspicious emails or requests. Also setting up policies for password changes can make sure your users are constantly staying protected.

Set permissions and update user accounts – Have your IT department regularly check the user accounts in your system. Making sure that the appropriate users have the right access can help mitigate risk if an account is compromised. Knowing which users have access to financial data or have administrative access is crucial if a bad actor ever gets into your network.

If you have questions about anything cybersecurity related, Invicta Partners is here to help. With our extensive background in security practices around both technology and people, we’re here to help local businesses. Reach out to us today to get the conversation started at 423-664-8700 or info@invictamsp.com!