Basic Cybersecurity Solutions for Your Business

When discussing robust cybersecurity practices, it's crucial to understand that you, as IT personnel, business leaders, and stakeholders, are not just part of the team but integral to protecting the company's data and systems. Your roles are key in implementing elements such as robust encryption, secure access controls, data loss prevention, and MDR, which are any organization's basic steps to protect itself from bad actors. Some tools are already accessible in your Microsoft or Google Workspace licenses. Other tools need to be purchased from third parties. But don’t fear. We’ll break down some steps you can take to create a protected environment that is cost-effective and robust.

To understand what you need to do, you must look at the different ways bad actors try to

·       Steal your data

·       Encrypt your data

·       Impersonate people

·       Spy on you

·       Steal your money

·       Steal your customer's/donor’s money

·       Steal trade secrets from you, your customers, donors, vendors

·       Expose your proprietary information

·       And finally, just shut you down

There are indeed numerous reasons why hackers do what they do. While it's natural to feel a sense of unease, the reality is that we will all be in their sights sooner or later. The more you delve into cybersecurity and its potential impact, the more you might feel like disconnecting from the matrix and crawling under your covers. However, it's crucial to remember that this is not an option during working hours unless you work from home. So, what can an IT person and the supporting business leaders do to protect the company, its employees, customers, and every other stakeholder?

First, they can understand how the bad actors try to do everything we mentioned above. Here are their techniques:

·       Phishing

·       Malware

·       Ransomware

·       DDoS

·       Insider Threats

·       Man-in-the-middle attacks

·       SQL Injection

·       Zero-Day Exploits

·       Password Attacks

·       Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)

Now that I’ve listed the techniques, do you understand what everything means? If you do, you must live and breathe IT like me! But if not, don't worry. We'll break it down for you with the definitions of each term from Webster's Dictionary. Lol jk.

In all seriousness, it’s okay not to understand the abovementioned techniques. You don’t have to. But it's crucial to listen to the folks in your IT department when they tell you these threats are serious. Failure to protect your business could lead to the company's end. The potential impact of cyber threats is not to be underestimated, and it's everyone's responsibility to take them seriously.

What is a business owner supposed to do?

Finally, the action, the things you can do to protect your business. This isn’t the end all be all, but it is how you start to go in the right direction. Step 1: Trust your IT department. Seriously, you pay them for a reason. Trust them. They aren’t just there to help fix things that are broken. They are a vital part of the business and can be part of revenue-generating projects if you ask them for their input. So pull them out of that windowless room! Invite them to your marketing and sales meetings! Not only when you need them to set up the projector but also when you’re brainstorming and strategically planning to gain market share or improve customer satisfaction. IT people will help you procure the innovative technology that will….  I’m getting off track here… But remember, you're not alone in this. Your IT department supports you every step of the way in every aspect of the business. And right now, we’re talking about security.

So trust your IT department. They can develop a long-term plan to implement the solutions and processes to protect against hacker techniques. What are some of these measures? Well…

Encrypt, Encryption, Encrypting, Encryptar

When you think about data, you must consider protecting it at all costs. These are not just 0’s and 1’s, bits and bytes, flashing lights. This is serious information! People’s social security numbers, credit card numbers, birthdates, addresses, and mother’s maiden names. When this data isn’t protected, it can ruin people’s lives. So, you must encrypt data when transmitted over networks (in transit) and stored on devices or servers (at rest). Encryption ensures that even if data is intercepted and accessed by unauthorized parties, it remains unreadable and secure. You need to take many steps, and some are already being done for you thanks to two of the largest, most powerful monopo- I mean- companies in the U.S.

Your communication and collaboration business applications. We’re talking Microsoft, and Google, and Google, and Microsoft…. pretty much just those two. They are the leading business applications in the workforce and are used by most businesses in America. I’m not saying they’re the best; I’m only calling it like it is. Each SaaS (Google, Microsoft) provider encrypts your data at rest and in transit. That should be enough, right? Unfortunately, no. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that cybersecurity is a shared responsibility?

Where’s the data?

You use other applications that aren’t in either of those cloud environments. Some applications are downloaded on your devices, and others are accessed via the browser.  So, take extra steps to protect your data in transit. Use a VPN, SASE, SD-WAN, Private Lines, or Private 5G. And encrypt the data on your devices. You can use services such as BitLocker or cybersecurity software to encrypt the data on every hard drive. Which solution you use or which vendor you use depends on many different factors. Such as your budget, the type of data you must protect, and the compliance you must adhere to. However you do it, encrypting your data is an essential first step.

Next, we’re going to wrap this up. We have a lot of ground to cover, and we will keep this thing going over the next couple of weeks. Let’s review what we learned in this here article. First, bad actors gonna act bad. They have many things they want to do and will find the easiest victims to do it to. Second, they have a lot of ways to do those bad things. And third, business leaders across departments must work with and trust the IT department. They will put the solutions in place to encrypt your data in rest and transit, along with the many other basic measures businesses can take to protect critical information.

Stay tuned for the next article as we discuss the basic measures a business can take to protect its data and people. And if you need an IT Consultant near you, you’ve come to the right place. Just smash that APPOINTMENT button and book a meeting with TechnoDen Advisors. Like your IT Team, we’ll help you innovate success.