Top 10 cybersecurity measures to secure your business

Top 10 cybersecurity measures to secure your business

As businesses drive into the future, they channel efforts to survive and grow. They are deploying technological solutions to make operations efficient, connecting remote workers worldwide, adding new applications to create new customer experiences, etc.

They store and process operational and customer data, making them an easy target for cybercriminals. These cyber attackers engage in malicious activities like stealing sensitive information, orchestrating tailored phishing attacks with stolen personal information, and extorting ransom by locking up trade secrets.

Let us look at some of the best practices in cybersecurity for businesses.

Business impact (cybersecurity lack thereof)

It calls for cybersecurity measures with some of the best practices that take care of the most immediate cyber threats. It is also the primary reason why increased global regulatory bodies have cybersecurity frameworks and guidelines for increased information security and enhanced posture against cyber threats.

What happens when businesses refuse to identify and implement cybersecurity measures to safeguard their IT infrastructure?

Let us take a look at some of the most recent numbers when it comes to the lack of cybersecurity in businesses.

Some shocking numbers 

• According to research by BlackFrog, over 61% of SMBs have become victims of cyber attacks, out of which over 39% have severely lost customers due to cyberattacks.
• Over 53.3 million US citizens have become victims of cyber crimes in the last year.
• 87% of IT decision-makers have reported at least two or more cyberattacks.
• Only 39% of IT providers understand the cybersecurity need of businesses.
• 81% of organizations experienced phishing and malware-related cyber attacks last year.

The most immediate cybersecurity challenges

With the threat landscape evolving, cybercriminals continue to increase the sophistication of their attacks. It has led to increased risk for OTs and IoT networks that have emerged recently for boosting efficiency across the production value chain.

Let us take a quick look at some of the cyber threat:

• Ransomware attacks 
• IoT/OT-based Advanced Persistent Attacks
• Botnet attacks
• Phishing attacks
• Advanced Social engineering attacks

10 cybersecurity measures for businesses

We have explored the impact of cyber attacks on businesses. We have explored how it does not only damage them operationally but also gravely impacts their reputation among stakeholders like customers and investors. It also puts them in a tough spot of answering regulatory and global bodies who levy hefty fines on non-compliance.

Now that we have seen the downsides of the absence of security, let us explore the ten cybersecurity measures that we can take to protect our business from the cyber threats of today:

1. Data First – Always Encrypt and Backup your data

Surviving in a highly volatile threat landscape means you can become a victim of cyberattack anytime since cybercriminals don’t attack just during business hours! Take measures to encrypt and back up your data regularly to stop cybercriminals from getting their hands on them. 

2. The Best Kind of Security is Layered – Enable Multi-Factor Authentication.

It is critical to prevent your data from getting accessed by someone not authorized. Identify and implement access controls. Follow a Zero Trust approach to access. It is one of the best ways to ensure superior security of all your sensitive data. 

3. Passwords are the Keys – Implement strong password policies and use password managers

Since passwords are the keys to all kinds of organizational personnel and other forms of sensitive company-specific information, it is important to identify and implement strong password policies. Encourage the use of password managers across different levels of your organization. 

4. Secure Everyone Connected – Consider Endpoint Security

Since traditional security measures led to lateral movement of threat actors, it is essential to implement measures for endpoint security that ensure that there is a security check at each point connected to the organization. 

5. Prioritize Cybersecurity – Create cybersecurity policies

Work with experts to develop thorough policies that define every aspect of your organizational cybersecurity. It should consist of security procedures, guidelines, rules, and incident response planning. They must highlight the responsibilities specific to each department. 

6. Spread cybersecurity awareness – Identify and fill gaps in awareness.

One of the weakest links when it comes to cybersecurity is why it is essential to train them with cyber security best practices to be implemented at an individual level and some of the common cyber threats like phishing, whaling, spear phishing, etc. 

7. Keep up with the latest vulnerabilities – Update hardware and software regularly.

It is essential to regularly patch and update software and hardware to prevent cyber attackers from exploiting security vulnerabilities that arise as a result of unattended flaws in hardware and software. 

8. Prepare yourself proactively against cyber attacks – incident response planning.

Incident response planning is a detailed document highlighting the procedures, policies, steps, and responsibilities that are to be taken in the event of a cyber attack. It saves an organization from damage, loss of information assets containing company secrets, personal information, etc. 

9. Be proactive and stay aware – establish mechanisms for reporting social engineering incidents. 

Since human error continues to remain one of the highly exploited vulnerabilities, it is critical to establish a mechanism for reporting social engineering-based cyber incidents in the organization to take measures to secure and raise awareness among employees accordingly. 

10. Take help from experts – Get your cybersecurity checked from Pros

You must have realized that all of the above steps are quite challenging to implement without a team of cybersecurity professionals who know what steps to take next and what cybersecurity scope fits the best with the long-term and short-term organizational goals. 

SharkStriker is here to help you with just that. We have a team of cybersecurity experts that will help you identify and implement the right steps and work with your key personnel to come up with a cybersecurity plan that fits your long-term and short-term goals. 

Cybersecurity for SMBs 

If you are a small or medium business owner interested in securing your business against cyber threats, you can read our blog where we explore some cybersecurity tips for small and medium businesses.