Many businesses come to a standstill over the holiday season. Computers are shut down, and employees head home to spend time with their families. Yet, not everyone goes into holiday mode. Cybercriminals can be hard at work taking advantage of businesses that have taken their eye off the ball. Don’t become a cyber victim this holiday season.
Here Are 5 Tips For Preventing Cyber Incidents By Taking The Following Actions:
1. Update and Patch Your Systems
Yes, those update notifications that pop up on your screen are annoying. And yes, it does seem like you’ve no sooner actioned an update than your system wants to do another one. However, as any top IT managed service provider will tell you, updating and patching your systems is crucial for preventing cyber incidents.
Indeed, you should be glad those updates are rolling in, as it means your system and software providers are on top of anything and everything hackers could try to exploit to gain access to your precious data.
Play your part in this game by ensuring all your applications, software, and systems have the latest security patches. It may also be beneficial to address any vulnerabilities that make it easier for cybercriminals to target you.
2. Double-Check Your Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) involves using two forms of evidence to grant access to software, a website, or an application. If someone tries to access your systems from outside your business, MFA makes it much harder for them to succeed.
If you haven’t yet implemented MFA, now is a great time to do so. Ensure all critical systems and sensitive data have at least two forms of protection in place, such as one-time passwords received via SMS or an app and a password. Before you leave for your holiday, test your MFA to make sure it works as it should.
3. Back Up Your Data
Most business owners understand the importance of backing up their data from preventing cyber incidents, especially with data compromises on the rise. If you have your data backed up in another location, any cyberattacks may not be as detrimental as they could be.
However, not all businesses back up their data as often as they should. If you aren’t already backing up your data at least once per week and ideally once every 24 hours, get into the habit of doing so. At a minimum, ensure you’ve backed up all business data before leaving for the holiday season so you have everything you need after the festive break.
4. Set Up Monitoring and Alerts
While the staff are away, the hackers love to play. However, you and your employees being out of the office doesn’t have to mean you become one of the millions of victims of cyberattacks annually. You can set up monitoring and alerts to look out for any suspicious activities.
IT service providers can offer this service, or you can use automated tools that monitor your network traffic and look out for unusual behavior. You can also set up alerts to notify your IT staff if there are any anomalies or access attempts.
5. Educate Your Employees
Employees are among the leading causes of cyber incidents through poor password hygiene, email misuse, social media oversharing, careless smartphone use, and careless use of collaboration tools. Give your employees the gift of knowledge this festive season and help them keep your business safe.
Talk to your team about how to spot phishing scams, especially holiday-themed ones that can catch many people out. You can also remind your team about the importance of not clicking on suspicious links.
Not having anyone actively using and protecting your systems during your holiday break can be nerve-wracking, especially when you’re worried about cybercriminals taking advantage. However, by educating employees, setting up alerts and monitoring, and updating and patching your systems, you can have a robust and secure system that you feel confident leaving until your employees are back on deck.
