5 Reasons Your Business Needs an Incident Response Plan (+ Free Template!)

Did you know that Americans face a hacker attack every 39 seconds, and 43% of these attacks target small businesses? Most companies will take about six months to detect a data breach, and by then, it’s often too late to do anything about it. The global average cost of a data breach is about $3.9 million for small to medium businesses.  Having a solid strategy can make all the difference for your business when dealing with a cyber-attack. What kind of strategy are we talking about? Having an incident response plan in place.

We are going to share some tips with you on why your business needs an incident response plan. That way, you can always be ready in the case of a cyber-attack. Read on to learn more.

 

Don’t Get Caught Off Guard: The Importance of an Incident Response Plan

The term “ransomware” is becoming a regular part of business security. Ransomware is a type of malware where hackers threaten to publish personal data or block some service until you pay a ransom. Organized crime gangs like the Russia-linked REvil Ransomware are constantly attempting to access computer networks and hold them for ransom.

An incident response plan sets out tools and processes your team can follow to identify new threats and end them. It also sets out steps for the recovery of the business following a cyber-attack by setting out the roles and responsibilities.

With a plan in place, you can constantly test the security system, identify issues, and learn from your mistakes.

 

Team making a Cyber incident response plan

Be Prepared: Why Your Business Needs an Incident Response Plan

Cyber-attacks are increasing as time passes, and the impact on your business is more significant than you would think. Your business should prepare for any emergency by implementing an incident response plan. The benefits of such a plan, such as finding security attacks faster and protecting your reputation, outweigh the costs.

 

#1: Pre-emptive Strike

There are several types of attacks that your business can run into that you need to protect yourself from. These include the denial of service attacks where your system is overloaded to the point where it can’t run legitimate customer requests, or a phishing attack with malware in emails that look like they come from legitimate sources.

An incident report plan allows you to strike pre-emptively and protect your business from a security breach. Attackers usually go for groups that they think are more vulnerable because they have a greater chance of success.

Having a plan means that you are prepared before an incident occurs, catching the security breach before too much time has passed.

 

#2: An Organized Approach from Disruption to Recovery

Business data loss is more than just losing your clients’ private information. It can cost you about $141 per data record, and that cost will continue to increase. The cost of cyberattacks includes lost wages, lost revenue, potential fines, and lost trust.

An incident response team will implement your plan that will set out the process for all types of attacks. It will help you from disruption to recovery in an organized way so that any security breaches can be handled without disrupting the business.

It can help you reduce the response time and the overall cost of dealing with a security breach.

 

#3: Learn From Past Mistakes and Strengthen Overall Security

Some simple tips like backing up and encrypting all data can help protect your business from cybersecurity threats. The goal of an incident response plan is to manage the complete security system and deal with all vulnerabilities. You can assess, analyze, and report on the security systems to minimize the impact of a cyberattack and quickly restore operations.

A part of the response plan means increasing cybersecurity awareness among your employees. Once they recognize threats, they will be more vigilant, leading to reduced cyberattacks attributed to human error.

You also have to test and improve your security practices and systems continuously. One way to do so is to use simulated security attacks and security breach scenarios to test your security system. This can expose gaps before a real cyberattack takes place.

 

#4: Protect Your Reputation and Build Trust

As a business, your reputation is your most essential tool. You work hard to develop a brand that people can trust and rely upon by providing the best service possible and giving 100% to your customers and employees. In a single moment, all that trust and a good reputation can disappear because of a cyberattack.

If your business loses too much data or resources to deal with ransomware, your reputation could be damaged beyond saving, where business continuity is a concern. The cost of paying ransomware can impact your bottom line and even lead to bankruptcy. An incident response plan can help protect your reputation and the public trust you have worked hard to build.

 

People pointing to graph

#5: Comply With Regulations

Specific sectors like the health care and financial services industry have regulations to protect consumer data and privacy. When those rules are not met, you are faced with hefty fines and costly lawsuits.

A business continuity plan, like an incident response plan, will set out the steps that your team will need to take to comply with the regulations. Your business can avoid legal penalties by managing its resources during an emergency. You can use the plan as proof of your due diligence when needed.

 

Need Help Getting Started with an Incident Response Plan?

Developing a cyber incident response plan doesn’t have to be complicated. Having one can make a dramatic difference in your level of preparedness, your overall vulnerability, and your peace of mind. If you need help with creating a Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan, look no further! We’re here to help. Our comprehensive Incident Response Plan covers all the important things you need to get started. Download our free template using the link below.

 

Download Your Free Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan Here!

Talk to an Expert Today

The first step to protecting yourself from cyberattacks is to design and put in place an incident response plan. Your entire team should be engaged and understand their role when dealing with a security breach. Working with a managed service provider can help you make the plan and implement it for a low fee.

Contact us today to talk to an expert. We can help you keep your business safe with a risk assessment to understand you can tackle insider and external hacking attacks. With our help, you can get a better understanding of the vulnerabilities of your business.

How Your Business Can Save Money by Outsourcing Managed IT

Save Money by Outsourcing Managed IT

Running a business in today’s fast-paced landscape requires constantly keeping up with industry trends and advancements and making sure that the data the company handles is safe. In a time when remote workers are a significant portion of talent and company networks are no longer bound by the traditional physical borders of a building, network maintenance, security, and general IT flexibility are crucial to success. Outsourcing Managed IT is becoming a more common solution to this challenge, but even though outsourced IT solutions may be cheaper, are they really saving money, or are they costing the company more in the long run? We’re going to dig into whether or not they’ll save you money and just how that money saving is accomplished.

 

What Is Managed IT?

Managed IT is what it’s called when a business contracts out its information technology (IT) to a third-party entity. The business and the managed service provider have a contractual agreement between them that assigns ownership and accountability for the overall IT functionality of the company in exchange for a monthly or annual fee. 

Depending on the service plan chosen and the needs of the business, this often puts the third party in charge of everything from maintaining the physical computer and network equipment and other digital devices to keeping the security policies current and properly configured. This third-party contracting is transparent from the customer’s viewpoint in most cases.

 

The Primary Benefits Of Managed IT Services

There are many different potential benefits of outsourcing IT services, many of which will depend on the industry and specifics of the business. Some of the most commonly-cited benefits are below.

 

Contractual Agreements

Managed IT services let the business decide what contractual terms the service provider must meet. These are called service level agreements, or SLAs. These agreements generally remove the burden of recruitment, onboarding, and training of the IT department, since the provider is working with talent      ready to be implemented as a turn-key IT solution. This is one of the reasons that managed IT is also more cost-effective since the business is only paying for services or time that they use.

 

Increased Overall Uptime

Since an outsourced IT solution won’t be bound by your business’s hours of operation nor by your after-hours IT overtime policies, they can maintain a schedule that fits your needs best. In many cases, this means they are on-call 24 hours a day and able to address downtime issues within minutes, instead of the traditional solution of calling in-house IT and having them commute to the worksite to bring a server back up. When your network goes down, managed IT is often monitored and can reboot in moments.

 

More Effective Uptime Management

Another benefit to your IT solution not being affected by local business hours is that maintenance can be handled much more efficiently. Updates and similar maintenance can be scheduled for off-hours when network usage will be at its lowest level, and the fewest employees will be affected. More uptime and network availability during regular business hours mean fewer disruptions and more consistent workflow.

 

Easily Fill Skills Gaps

Outsourcing your managed IT services can hold huge benefits for teams that have skill gaps or simply don’t have time in their day to address internal IT issues. This means your talent can keep their focus where it belongs, on their job duties, and not in a secondary capacity as in-house shadow IT. Filling those still gaps also means you’ll always have someone addressing an issue who is an expert in it, not just handy at the time.

 

Minimize Effects Of Talent Shortages

One of the biggest challenges facing businesses right now is finding, hiring, and retaining the talent they need. It is notoriously challenging to fill IT vacancies, and outsourcing your IT services eliminates that shortage. When you contract with a competent managed service provider, you no longer have to worry about finding someone to fill a role, nor will you need to focus on onboarding them as that will already be done.

 

Does Outsouricing Managed IT Actually Save Your Business Money?

Depending on what industry or space your business operates in, there are likely significant savings in outsourcing your IT services. Businesses that rely on apps, coding, and other functions that lie largely in the tech space can see 31% lower costs compared to in-house IT operations. In fact, the reason cited by 71% of businesses that switched to outsourced managed IT services was to reduce overall costs.

 

Primary Ways Outsourcing Managed IT Saves Money

While this list isn’t exhaustive, it does have some of the most common reasons that outsourcing IT services can help your business cut costs. 

 

Eliminating Onboarding & Training Needs

One of the highest costs for any business is recruiting, hiring, and onboarding new talent. This can be a considerable expense for many smaller companies that are still in the growing stage, and reducing or even eliminating those expenses can dramatically improve liquidity and pivotability for smaller businesses.

 

Reductions In Benefit Funding

Since your managed IT solution will be its own business entity and operate as a contractor, your business will not have to worry about funding employee benefits for those contractors. This can save incredible amounts of money in the context of your entire IT team and the cost per year for their benefits.

 

Elimination Of Shadow IT Costs

Shadow IT is the term used for leveraging talent committed to other roles for in-house IT support. While this may be highly convenient, it also works against your business in two ways. Not only are people you hired for a different job now focused on something that isn’t their responsibility, but they’re also getting paid for a job they aren’t doing right now. Outsourcing your IT needs keeps this phenomenon to a minimum, saving you money and keeping talent-focused where it needs to be.

 

Immediate On-Call IT Support

In-house IT personnel will have on-call rotations, but while they will need to then commute to the business site and begin addressing the problem, outsourced IT providers will already be aware of the outages or downtime and can be counted on to be proactive. Additionally, no matter what the issue is, they are available 24/7 to address it.

 

Managed IT Services Are Highly Efficient

When you use internal associates for IT, you’re drawing on the knowledge of a few individuals and their resources to be able to fix your problems. However, when you outsource managed IT, your needs are addressed by entire teams of a company, which allows them to pull solutions from a far larger pool of knowledge and resources. The IT field is incredibly wide and diverse, so being able to have a diverse array of personnel attending to the needs of your company can be crucial to success.

 

Scalability That Aligns With Your Business Needs

Most managed IT solutions can rapidly scale their abilities to your business needs. This means you can easily scale down during slow periods of the year to save even more while ramping up for your busy season and using the increased seasonal revenue to make sure your company’s network and abilities are on point for your customers. Scalability is also great if you’re planning an expansion but don’t necessarily want to dedicate additional resources for in-house infrastructure.

 

Unbeatable Consistency

Your managed IT provider won’t be taking sick days, doesn’t need a vacation, and will never put in their two weeks while leaving you scrambling to find a replacement. While in-house IT talent will have lives outside of work and will require a work-life balance, your outsourced IT solution will operate as a company, not an individual, and will constantly work toward fulfilling your service level agreement.

 

What Factors Can Affect Your IT Spending & How Much Outsourcing Managed IT Can Save You

Many service providers will offer a variety of options for service, but they will often depend on several factors. These factors will include the size and complexity of your network, the number of users, the estimated amount of support time the business will need each month, and more.

 

Average Service Time Needed

Some service providers will charge hourly rates while others will have a more standardized “plan” structure, similar to picking a monthly cell phone plan, that will let you customize the services you get for the price you pay. If you go with a provider that charges an hourly rate, expect to pay anywhere from $125 to nearly $300 per hour, which can rise or fall depending on the provider. This is a prime consideration if you have a larger company that may require support for many employees on a near-constant basis.

 

Total Number Of Network Users

More users mean more devices, which leads to larger and more complex networks and the resulting management that goes into that network. Before you start pricing out a service provider, you’ll probably want to do a full inventory of all your users, as well as exactly how many devices your provider will need to maintain.

 

The Amount Of Data You Deal With

If you need your service provider to secure or backup your data, you will need to know just how much data you deal with daily. This is crucial for businesses looking to protect large databases of customer information and records from data breaches and potential leaks. Many businesses take backups for granted, but securing your company against catastrophic data loss could be worth the price of the service provider alone. 

 

How Many Servers You’ll Need

Just as you should know how much data your business handles, you should also be aware of how many servers your company owns or rents. If you plan on having your outsourced IT department manage your servers and associated data security, you will want to know what your business needs from them to determine if the move is cost-effective.

 

Your Service & Planned Upgrades

One final consideration when choosing a managed IT provider is what you expect in terms of ongoing security patches and equipment upgrades. Will they be responsible for security, or will you keep that in-house? Will they be accountable for the entirety of your network and its associated health? Will your need potentially extend beyond computing to possibly encompass your VOIP phone system and similar needs? These are all things to consider when evaluating a provider and its costs.

 

Are There Different Types Of Managed IT?

Depending on your needs, you may only need specific types of managed IT support. Here are some of the most common types you’ll encounter, though many Managed IT providers offer multiple:

 

Conventional Break/Fix Modeling

These plans only address your needs when something needs to be fixed or patched. They often will not perform any general maintenance or monitoring, and while they can be the most cost-effective for companies that don’t need much, they are also the most limited.

 

Security Services

Security services are one of the most frequently outsourced IT tasks. These providers will offer managed IT security solutions and assistance. They will frequently develop or configure the security policies for your entire network.

 

Software-As-A-Service

Software as a service, or SaaS, is most frequently used for companies that need customer relationship management or CRM software that is frequently hosted in the cloud. SaaS is very application-specific and will generally deal with individual software suites. 

 

Infrastructure-As-A-Service

Infrastructure as a service, or IaaS, is where your provider will leverage cloud services like AWS and Microsoft to provide cloud service for your company’s operation and storage.

 

Data Management

Data management services are used to help secure data, databases, and backup services. Data breaches in 2021 cost the average business more than $4 million, a 17-year high. This makes it a matter of not only customer security but also financial security for the business.

 

Understanding The Benefits Of Outsourcing Managed IT Can Help Your Business Save

There’s no telling how much your business could save by leveraging an outsourced IT service provider until you speak to one and get a quote. The key is understanding not only how it will affect your bottom line but also the non-monetary benefits that can lead to indirect savings. Once you know what you need from your managed service provider, you’ll be able to create an IT solution plan that works for both your IT needs and your budget.

Want to find out if Managed IT Services is right for your business? Contact us today for a free, 30-minute consultation or get started with a free, self-guided IT Security Risk Assessment. 

6 Tips For Implementing New Technology In Your Business

6 Tips For Implementing New Technology In Your Business

Businesses today run on technology. It’s almost impossible to have a successful business without using at least a couple of different kinds of technology to help that business work. No matter what kind of business you run, from selling homemade candles at farmers’ markets to internet service providers and everything in between, you probably use a variety of software and technological tools to make your business work.

With that comes the reality that sometimes you need new technology, either to add functionality to your existing tools or because the older technology you’ve been using is outdated. You need something newer or more flexible. There’s just one problem. If you’ve ever been through the process of adding a new technology before, you probably already know what the problem is.

Adapting to new technologies is hard, and introducing new technology to your business can make things a lot harder, at least in the short term.

There is good news, too, though. The good news is that there are a few things you can do to make adding a new technology a lot easier for you and everyone else involved in your business. Here are the top tips and tricks to make implementing a new technology easier, no matter what kind of business you have or what technology you’re implementing. Let’s get started.

 

Tip #1: Make Sure The Technology Is Genuinely Helpful

One of the biggest technological problems businesses encounter is technologies that seem helpful on the surface but don’t make things easier for the people who are actually using them. This can happen for a variety of reasons, including executives deciding to implement unnecessary technology or redundant technologies and implementing technology that doesn’t really address the needs of the business.

For instance, accounting technologies can be a fantastic addition to most businesses. But a program that basically just dresses up Excel probably won’t actually help your business if you’re already using Excel and the new program doesn’t add substantial functionality.

Unfortunately, one of the truths of today’s world is that there is a lot of redundant technology out there and a lot of programs designed to look useful that don’t actually offer much functionality. There is also a lot of purpose-built technology that’s useful in specific situations but not useful outside of those contexts.

That means that business owners and executives need to be careful when choosing new technologies, even when you’re trying to address an explicit need in the business. You need to make sure you’re not just choosing an effective option but also the option best suited to your company’s specific needs and culture.

To do this right, you should consider several different technological options to meet your business’s needs. Talk with the companies offering the technology to get demos and as much information about each technology as possible.

If possible, try to involve at least some of the people who will be using new technologies in the trial process. You want to make sure people with the most knowledge about what’s needed and what will be useful are included – otherwise, you risk implementing technologies that don’t adequately address the problems you’re trying to solve.

When necessary, consider implementing multiple technologies as needed to fully address a problem or hurdle you’re encountering in your business.

 

Tip #2: Give Everyone Advance Warning About The Addition

One of the hardest things to handle as a worker is when your company suddenly introduces a new technology or process without proper warning and training.  Even technologies that help solve real problems can feel unnecessary or burdensome when they aren’t well introduced. If you’re a solopreneur with a business of one, you probably don’t need to worry about this, but once anyone else is working with you, it’s a good idea to think about how you should introduce new technologies.

For instance, you’ll need a training program and time for people to adjust to the new technology before it’s fully implemented. If new technology is replacing an existing system or process, you should also probably have both systems in place simultaneously, at least until everyone is used to the new technology and consistently able to get what they need from it.

Depending on the technology involved, an appropriate warning about change might mean letting people know a few weeks in advance, or it might mean letting them know a few months ahead of time and planning on training over the course of a few weeks, as you can pull people from regular work to train.

Very few new technologies can be successfully implemented in just a few days. Plus, you should consider the technical skill of the people who will be using the new technology. If your workforce is generally tech-savvy and adaptable, you might be able to get away with quick turnarounds. But if your workforce is less technically skilled, you should plan on extra time to help get everyone up to speed with new technologies.

When you’re demoing a new technology, take some time to think about how difficult it is to get used to. Consider if it’s similar to existing technologies you’re already using and how steep a learning curve the technology might come with.

Those things will help you decide how much warning you need to give when you’re changing to the new system.

 

Tip #3: Get Some People Trained Early

Another tip to make technological transitions easier is to have a group of people who are already familiar with the new technology before it’s been generally implemented in your business.

These should be individuals who either have the most skill and qualifications for the new technology or who are already leaders in your business and have the skill and patience to help other people learn.

Small businesses can probably get away with just one or two people getting advance training on new technology, but the size of the team should increase with the size of the business.

Only after this group is trained and ready to help everyone else upskill on the new technology should you implement that technology in the business as a whole.

Remember, this group is here to make training easier and faster, but not to replace training entirely.

In ideal circumstances, you shouldn’t be completely reliant on new technology until after everyone has had the opportunity to train on it and is comfortable using it.

However, since business is rarely an ideal world, the other role of people trained on new technologies in advance is to figure out the hiccups and problems so they can fix them when they happen in real-time.

That way, your business doesn’t have to slow down as much when you’re implementing new technologies, and you’re less likely to get frustrated employees burning out on training and new systems.

 

Tip #4. Consider A Pilot Team To Work Out Problems Before They Happen

Having a pilot program for new technology is a little different than having people trained in advance, but it can be very similar, and you can turn your pilot program into your trainers and helpers a lot of the time.

The goal of a pilot program for new technology is to make sure it addresses the need you think it addresses, finds the hurdles or drawbacks to the technology, and generally makes sure it’s actually a better option than what you’re already doing.

Having a pilot program is a little like proofreading an important email before you send it out. You already think that the new technology is a good idea and are ready to move forward; you’re just making sure there aren’t any serious problems that could get in the way or make the technology more trouble than it’s worth.

This option is best for medium and large businesses that can afford to have some people assigned to the pilot program instead of working on their normal duties. That’s important because, even though the pilot program participants will get back to work and may even have better productivity at the end of the program, they may lose their productivity for a little while as they upskill and get used to the new technology.

Pilot programs should also last long enough to really test the new technology you’re implementing. Setting someone to learn and use the new technology for a shift or two before you move forward isn’t really a pilot program.

You need time to find the flaws in a system before you can decide if it’s the right option for your business.

 

Tip #5: Think About Getting A Managed Service Provider

One way to make implementing new technologies easier is to bring in a managed service provider for your business.

Managed service providers are similar to your in-house IT department in some ways but very different in others. For one thing, your managed service provider will likely have expertise in a wider range of technologies, which means they can help steer technological decisions based on your business needs and the available software.

Managed service providers can provide a range of expertise and services, including:

  • Data management
  • Safe data storage and backups
  • Increased network security
  • IT support
  • Communications support

All of those things are critical when you’re implementing new technology.

For instance, bringing in new technology can often leave your business and individual workers vulnerable to cybersecurity risks. You might not even realize that the risks are there until after the exposure.

But having a managed service provider helping with onboarding and implementation means that you’ll have someone who can help catch those security risks and warn you away from them.

Your managed service provider may even be able to eliminate the risk during implementation, which keeps everyone safer.

Having a managed service provider also helps your business escape the break-fix cycle with new technology. By anticipating problems and helping avoid them, you get the benefit of issues being ‘fixed’ before they ever become issues in the first place.

That means fewer business interruptions and a lot more productive time for you and your team.

If you are interested in learning about how a Managed IT provider can help your business, schedule a call with Edge Networks.

 

Tip #6: Don’t Be Afraid To Fine Tune After Adding New Technology

Another big mistake businesses make when implementing new technology is that they forget they can still fine-tune processes and how they use that technology after it’s been implemented.

Unfortunately for the businesses that skip this step, it’s also one of the most important parts of making sure your technology is working for your business, not eating resources you need elsewhere.

Almost no technology these days is going to be perfect for your business’s needs unless it was literally designed for your business. And even if you do manage to find the perfect technological solution to a problem, you’re still likely to need fine-tuning to make sure it’s working as well as it can.

Fine-tuning can include things like adjusting what parts of the technology you’re using, who uses it, and even subscription levels and other details until you find the right match.

Ideally, you’ll figure out a lot of the fine-tuning in the pilot program stage or early in implementation, but you should still be open to fine-tuning for a minimum of a few months after implementation.

This part of the process is also a chance to customize the technology and surrounding processes to the needs and personality of your company and the people who work there. Need a good accounting program that’s as simple as possible to make it accessible to a lot of different workers? This is when you can figure out which features are most helpful or which workers benefit most from having access to this technology.

Not sure whether a program is going to be a good fit for everyone in your company, or if you should restrict use to some specific people? Take this time to try both ways and see how the relevant teams think it should be implemented.

Realistically most companies should be fine-tuning how they use technology all the time, but it’s especially important right after implementation.

Remember, this isn’t just about finding the best technology or the right fit; it’s also about figuring out how to best utilize the technology and how to meet the needs of your entire business. It’s okay if that takes some time to get right. It’s a big project.

Technology is there to make your business easier to run and organize. But if you want to get the most out of that technology, you have to take the time your business needs to get there.

Among many things, Edge Networks can help you implement new technology into your business. To learn more about how we can help, schedule a call with us, or take our free, self-guided IT Security Risk Assessment. 

Everything You Should Know About Backing Up Your Data

The essential way to store your information

Backing up your data is essential for anything related to technology. If you do not regularly back up your data, you can lose hours spent on acquiring that information, which can affect productivity. You can use a few different methods to back up information safely.

Backing up your information means duplicating it and storing the backups securely. It is essential to store your data in such a way that there is more than one copy of it available, but you also must make sure those copies aren’t readily available to other people. This article will teach you everything you need to know about backing up your information securely.

 

What is a Data Backup?

Data backups make and store copies of the data that is important to you or your company. People back up their data to avoid losing their personal and professional data. This data can range from songs you like to essential company documents you need to keep and everything in-between. You should back up any digital information you deem as important one way or another.

Data is any digital information stored on a device. This information can include music, photos, documents, and audio files. People have important data that needs to be backed up in both their personal and professional lives.

 

Why You Should Be Backing Up Your Data Securely

If you neglect to back up important information, then you run the risk of losing that information. Unfortunately, there are situations in which you will be unable to recover some data if it is lost, so any information you find valuable should you need to back up. For example, you may need to back up personal or professional data to prevent losing important files.

Here are a few situations where you will need to back up your data securely to prevent data loss.

  • Any personal documents that you cannot replace easily. This data can include tax documents, photographs, or medical documents.
  • You need any professional documents like reports, databases, spreadsheets, etc. Not backing up professional documents can cost you hours if any technical issues arise.
  • Credit card transactions and bills should have copies to avoid scams or incorrect charges.
  • You should back up professional documents related to payroll and benefits to prevent employment issues.

If you deem any data important for any reason, then you need to back it up. Even minor technical issues can cause unrecoverable data loss, and by backing up your information, you will avoid that problem entirely. Backing up your data is easy and doesn’t consume much time, so there is no reason not to do it.

 

Best Practices for Backing Up Your Data Securely

Cybersecurity is more critical now than ever before. If you are not careful about how you back up your information, then people you don’t know may get ahold of your data and use it. Many people find themselves the victim of a scam at one point, and data loss is one of the most significant effects of a cyber attack.

There are a few different options to back up your data, and there are pros and cons to each of the methods. Unfortunately, no method is 100% perfect, but any way of backing up data is better than none at all. You can determine which option is best for you.

 

Option 1: Put your data on a designated USB drive

USB drives are an easy way to save your information. If you are concerned about someone accessing your internet accounts, you could back up your files on a USB for less chance of data loss. USB drives provide a quick and easy way to backup both personal and professional documents. However, this is not necessarily the most secure way to store information. If you do use this option, you should not store your personal and professional documents together on the same USB drive.

USBs are easy to hide if you have concerns about someone in your home accessing your data. They are also compact, so you can either tuck them into a discreet place or easily keep them on your person if that feels safer for you. USB drives are compatible with most computers and are easy to transport around with you. This makes it ideal if you have to have access to the backed up data often.

However, keep in mind that USBs have the potential to be misplaced, broken, or stolen. While it is one of the easiest ways to back up data, you may want to find another way to back it up if you have very sensitive data. The most secure way to store them after the data is stored is to put the USB directly into a safe.

 

Option 2: Back up your information using an external hard drive

Consider a larger external hard drive if you have a more sizeable amount of data you need to backup. USB drives are suitable for storing some documents, but an external hard drive can store larger files like videos, movies, and photo albums. You may need an external hard drive to store larger files in many professional settings.

Hard drives are similar to USBs because they don’t require internet access to back up your data. However, hard drives are not nearly as easy to transport as USB drives. So if you are storing smaller files that you need to take with you frequently, you should use a different data storage solution. Additionally, it is best practice to have the hard drive encrypted so attackers could not access the data if the hard drive was misplaced or stolen. If the data doesn’t have to be accessed frequently, it should also be stored in a secure location, like a safe.

 

Option 3: Back up your information on a disk drive

CDs and DVDs are another way to backup data. Disk drives are good for data backup because you can get many disks for a low price and easily keep your data separate from each other. In addition, disk drives have stored audio, video, and documents for several years, and disk drives are easy to transport.

The downside of using disk drives to backup data is that disk drive-based media players are not as abundant at they used to be. In the hay day of disk drives, most people had a cd player or a DVD player readily available in their homes, but these days many people don’t have that type of media player. In fact, even many computers no longer have disk drives.

This method can be beneficial because you won’t have to worry about too many people having access to data backed up on a disk drive, but inconvenient because you may find it difficult to find a source to play the disk. If you have a disk drive at home and only need to access the data at home, you may be able to use a disk drive. If you don’t have a disk drive player readily available, you may want to consider a different data backup method. Additionally, disks have the same issue as USBs, in that they could be easily misplaced, stolen, or broken, and should be stored in a secure location.

 

Option 4: Back up your data on the cloud

Cloud storage is a newer data backup method compared to the other data backup methods on this list. To backup your data on the cloud, you will need to link the data to an account that only you can access. People backup their data using the cloud by connecting it to their email accounts.

If you are using the cloud to back up your important data, you will need to make sure that the account your information is linked to is secure. If the account that all of your essential data is backed up on is compromised, you will not only lose the data, but someone else can gain access to your data.

Even when you choose to backup your data on the cloud, you may also want to consider a physical data backup method. Having your data backed up physically adds security for your information when your accounts are breached. We will go over ways that you can keep your cloud storage secure to prevent your data from being compromised.

 

Protect Your Cloud Account

If you want to make sure your data is safe, you need to take measures to prevent your account from being compromised. For example, suppose someone can get into your accounts and access your information. In that case, they may be able to access credit cards, identity information, and all of your files. Data leaks are common, but there are ways to keep yourself safe. We will list the methods you should use to keep your cloud data safe.

 

Keep Different Passwords for Every Account You Have

The primary way other people can access people’s accounts is through data breaches. Unfortunately, most people have been the victim of a data breach at one point or another without even realizing it. These data breaches often leak names, credit cards, emails, and passwords used on the website.

If you use the same password for your email account on a website with a data breach, then strangers may gain access to your email account. In addition, it is common for personal information acquired through website data breaches to be sold, and scammers pay breachers to have access to the information found in data leaks.

 

Be Aware of Phishing Scams

Another common way people end up with compromised accounts is by falling for phishing scams. Phishing is when someone sends an email posing as a reputable company to acquire personal information. Do not click links from sources you do not trust, and be careful not to trust every email you receive.

Scammers know that many people store their personal information on the cloud, and because of that, they want access to that cloud. Data stored on the cloud can give your credit card numbers, address, and name. As a result, many people who fall victim to phishing scams also fall victim to identity theft and credit card theft.

 

Never Give Your Passwords Out

Sometimes people feel so comfortable with each other that they think they can trust them with their accounts. While the sentiment may seem touching to some people, giving out your passwords to other people is an unsafe practice.

People you trust can change after a while and become less trustworthy. If you give out your passwords to other people, you put yourself at significant risk of theft and losing your important data. So do yourself a favor and keep your passwords to yourself, no matter how much you may trust another person with your information.

 

Essential Things to Remember About Backing Up Your Data

  1. Even if you back up your data on the cloud, you should also back it up using an alternate method.
  2. Keep your backed-up data in a safe place where it is not easily accessible.
  3. You should back up any data that is important to you.
  4. Keep your cloud accounts secure, and do not allow others access to your accounts.
  5. If you need your information to be easy to transport, you need to back up your data using a method that allows easy transportation, like a USB or disc drive.

 

Final Thoughts on Backing Up Your Data

It is vital to back up important information because it is easy to lose important data from something as simple as a technical issue. When you backup your data, you need to keep the information safe, whether in physical copies or cloud storage. Maintaining backups of necessary data is easy to do and doesn’t take much time, so you should do it even with personal things only to you.

When backing up your data on a cloud device, keep that account secure to avoid your data from being compromised. Follow the cyber safety and password advice provided in this guide to keep your data safe.

Knowing what critical systems need to be backed up, where to back them up, and how to back them up can be a complicated process. Let Edge Networks help! You can schedule a call with us.

What do Virtually All Phishing Attacks Have in Common?

How to figure out if an email is genuine or “phish-y”

We have all gotten those messages. The ones that state we’ve won the lottery despite never buying a ticket, or that some unknown relative has left us a great fortune, or the ever prominent one where a Nigerian Prince threatens to split his inheritance with us and all we need to do is give up some information. We just need to click a link, send the person on the other end our bank account information, or input our social security number to get rich quick, right? Unfortunately, whenever you do this, you may find that instead of your bank account growing, it is instead dramatically thinned out. Even worse, attackers could get access to something even more valuable: your data. These types of emails are a common type of email scam called ‘phishing’ where attackers pretend to be someone else and ask for your information. Whenever you give the information out, it gives the attackers a way to get into your private data and your bank account. Even for people who are experienced in the ways of the internet, phishing attacks can be difficult to detect as attackers make more and more efforts to trick us.

Thankfully, all phishing attacks have a few red flags in common that you can train yourself to identify, and with a bit of practice, you can keep yourself and your data safe from attacks.

 

How Phishing Works

Phishing works whenever an attacker pretends to be someone you would trust, trying to get you to open a link. For example, you might get a strange email from someone pretending to be your bank, a workmate, or a business you frequent. They will then ask you to click on a link or perform an action in the email.

Whenever you do, the attack can install malware onto your computer, steal funds or make charges to your credit card, or even steal your identity. Phishing is also very dangerous for companies, because a phishing attack that gets through employees can get through security and other safeguards.

This can be the opening to a larger data attack that can compromise the company’s information, leak hidden data, and can put everyone at risk. So no matter what, it’s important that you know how to detect these phishing scams and how to defend yourself against them.

 

What Most Phishing Attacks Have In Common

It is very understandable to be worried about phishing attacks. They can cause devastation to individuals and companies alike. However, most phishing emails or texts have a few things to watch for that most phishing attacks have in common.

 

1.  “Phish-y” Email Addresses

One thing that may tip you off that an email is not legitimate is an email address that does not match the expected sender. If the email claims it is from a legitimate company but does not come from an email address associated with that company, it should be cause for concern. Most attackers cannot gain access to a legitimate company email and simply hope that the recipient takes them at their word. You can check the email against legitimate emails from the same company to further see the differences. Keeping an eye out for ‘phish-y’ email addresses is a great way to prevent most attacks. 

 

2.  Spelling and Grammar

Another way to detect a phishing attack is to examine the contents of the email. Phishing and scam emails tend to have worse grammar and spelling and have awkward sentence structure. If it looks like the email should be run through a spellchecker, you might want to consider that it isn’t legitimate.

Additionally, the email might have inconsistent and informal wording. For example, the email could use phrases that are not common in the workplace or business environment. The word ‘dear’ or other informal language from someone you don’t have a casual relationship with is also a red flag. 

 

3.  Sense of Urgency

Phishing emails will often require you to perform an urgent action and try to get you to panic: You need to log into your account now, claim the money now, and click on the link now. A common tactic is to state that your account has been hacked, and you must log in immediately to change the password. This is done so that people do not have time to think about their actions and will take steps they wouldn’t usually take if they had time to consider. Most legitimate emails will not require such urgency.

 

4.  Too Good To Be True

Finally, many phishing emails are too good to be true. Any emails offering money, or expensive items for free, are almost always too good to be true, especially if they are asking for personal information in return. No legitimate company will ask for your social security number or account credentials in exchange for a free set of Airpods. Trust your gut, and don’t be afraid to report the email to your IT team and move on.

 

Who Is At Risk?

Everyone is at risk for phishing attacks, whether you are an individual on a personal device or part of a company, because phishers and data scammers cast a very wide net. They send out thousands of emails to thousands of people, confident that no matter what, someone somewhere is going to fall for their scam and give them access.

Whether you are a normal person or the CEO of a big company, no one is immune to getting these emails. Often, people working either at the bottom rung of companies are good targets because they are gatekeepers to their internal workings and often aren’t trained to recognize phishing emails.

 

What To Do If You Are A Victim

Sometimes accidents happen, and you slip up and get caught on the hook of a phishing attack. If you are a victim, here are some of the things you can do to keep yourself safe and prevent an attack like this from happening again. 

 

Phishing Recovery As An Individual

One of the first things you will need to do is take a deep breath. Phishing attacks often rely on the urgency to get you to do something, such as entering a password before a 24-hour time limit is up. However, continuing to be reactive is precisely what the attacker is hoping for. Often, it prevents you from taking the steps needed to mitigate the damage.

First, record everything. If you entered your email or password into a scam webpage, record exactly what you entered, try to take screenshots, and do whatever you can to gather information. If you have downloaded a dangerous attachment, instantly turn off your Wi-Fi and disconnect from the internet. You might be able to prevent the virus or the attacker from getting a firm grip on your computer and all your data.

Then change your passwords for all the affected accounts and any other accounts that might have the same password. You should also change your security questions, recovery emails, and anything else that helps you get into the account. Then make sure to scan your computer to remove any viruses, either by using software or by working with an expert who can professionally clean your drives.

Finally, take the time to keep an eye on your bank or email accounts. If the scammers are making moves with your data, you’ll be able to see and report it. If your identity has been stolen, reach out to the Federal Trade Commission or Credit Reports to mitigate the damage.

 

Phishing Recovery As A Company

If a company is recovering from a phishing attack, it can take a while to sift through everything and see what has been stolen, affected, or exposed. The first thing to do is disconnect the affected device from the internet and the network. You don’t want an infected device causing problems for your entire network, so isolating the virus is the first step. Additionally, if you logged into a fake website, make sure to go to the actual website and change the credentials. 

If you have a Managed Service Provider, you should immediately report the attack to them. They can help with your data recovery, and help you figure out your next steps. Your company will also need to report the attack to the Federal Trade Commission. Finally, scan the affected device for malware and try to determine how much damage it can do. 

 

Moving Forward After A Phishing Attack

Whether you are a company or an individual, recovery from a phishing attack can be done. You just need to make sure that you have learned from the attack, are more cautious when opening and interacting with emails, and work on prevention. Keeping your emails safe with programs and other defensive measures is crucial to preventing phishing attacks from getting you on their hook again.

Implementing Multi-Factor Authentication is one of the best ways to mitigate the effects of phishing attacks. Multi-Factor Authentication gives you an extra layer of security if an attacker gains access to your credentials through a phishing attack, and may prevent them from being able to use those credentials to access your accounts.

For example, a website might ask for your username and password, but it will also text a numerical code to your phone if MFA is implemented. Hopefully, a phishing attacker doesn’t have access to your phone, so you would be able to get into the website while the attacker wouldn’t be. Having two or more steps to your verification will be one of the easiest ways to prevent hackers from getting into your data.

 

Recent Attacks in the News

Phishing attacks are more common than we think, and despite how much we know about them, they keep happening. Here are some of the most recent phishing attacks in 2022.

 

The Attack On Trezor

With everyone trying to get into cryptocurrency, it was only a matter of time before someone attacked crypto wallets. However, the popular email service, MailChimp, was compromised on March 26th, 2022, sending phishing emails to people who have cryptocurrency wallets made by Trezor.

Other cryptocurrency areas are getting attacked in a similar manner, and although the attack was found and halted, emails were exposed, and attackers were able to access data from them. The affected email owners were notified, but it still was something that shook the cryptocurrency industry to its core. 

 

The Attack On Spokane Regional Health

On February 24, 2022, the personal information of almost 1,200 residents of Washington was exposed. An attacker accessed these clients’ medical data and protected information at Spokane Regional Health. While no social security numbers or financial data were exposed, medical information, first and last names, and other data were leaked.

The Health District stated that their staff failed to recognize a phishing scam, exposing the data and getting into the system. In order to handle these threats better and prevent this type of attack from happening again, the District is requiring extra training and communication so their employees can recognize phishing attacks.

No matter what field you are in or where you work, nearly everywhere can be vulnerable to phishing if the proper precautions and training are not taken. So making sure that everyone involved is educated about how to handle a phishing attack goes a very long way.

 

Conclusion

Needless to say, phishing attacks can be detrimental to not only businesses, but any individual who accesses emails or text messages. We must constantly be on high alert against these attackers. However, hopefully these tips will help you recognize these attempts and get you ready for when you inevitably face one of these phishing emails. 

Do you have a plan in place for if you or your employees fall victim to one of these attacks? Edge Networks can help! Our Advanced Cybersecurity Plan can provide your business with employee security awareness training, phishing simulations, and even help you put a plan in place for incident response and disaster recovery. Schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to find out how Edge Networks can help your business. 

The Differences Between Data Loss, Data Leak, and Data Breach

The Differences Between Data Loss, Data Leak, and Data Breach

Our society is increasingly driven by, and reliant on, a constant flow of data to and from countless personal and business entities. This data is constantly being sent, received, stored, retrieved, traded, altered, updated, and deleted, and most people take for granted how dangerous this data can be if it gets into the wrong hands. This data making its way into the wrong hands is why modern IT and cybersecurity teams have their work cut out for them. The threat of data leaks, data breaches, and data loss is ongoing and one of the constant concerns for teams working to secure large networks. We’re going to dive into what data leaks and data breaches are, what data loss means, how they happen, and what can be done to try and prevent them.

 

What Is The Difference Between A Data Leak & A Data Breach?

In the simplest terms, a data leak is when data of a sensitive nature is unknowingly made available or otherwise exposed. A data breach is the theft of or damage to confidential data during or as a result of a cyberattack. In some cases, the breach can be the direct result of an existing leak, with the attacker using that as the opportunity to gain unauthorized access to more data. 

If confidential data were a freshly-baked pie, a data leak is leaving the pie to cool on an open windowsill, while a data breach is someone opening the window and taking the cooling pie off of the counter. Sometimes, the criminal will use the open window to access and potentially steal everything else in your house.

 

Dangers Of Data Leaks And Data Breaches

The dangers of data leaks and breaches in any industry simply cannot be overstated. The average employee in the financial services sector has access to approximately 11 million files, and a staggering 23% of all data breaches have a root cause of human error.

Data leaks and data breaches in the financial sector could put countless pieces of personal, confidential, or business financial information out in the open. In the healthcare sector, it could mean sensitive medical information and other confidential data becomes available to hackers and other criminals. Breaches in government systems could end up as threats to national security.

 

What is Data Loss?

Data loss is the undesired removal or loss of confidential or sensitive data. This can sometimes be due to something as simple as a system error or a failing piece of hardware. However, sometimes the loss of essential data can be from a more malicious source. Data loss generally refers to any data that is encrypted beyond recovery, stolen, or irrevocably deleted.

 

Common Causes of Data Leaks & Data Breaches

Data leaks and even breaches are much more common than many people know, and they can be caused in countless ways. Sometimes they are brute-forced, while in other cases, the hackers may simply ask the right person for a password or access permission. They can come from unlikely sources, even from within the organization, and in some cases, they can be the result of plain, old-fashioned laziness.

 

Social Engineering

Social engineering is the tactic of getting sensitive information from a trusted source simply by speaking with them or otherwise interacting with them personally. A common way of getting access to trusted networks is the attacker simply calling an internal support contact and asking for a password reset. Suppose the attacker already has a valid username and the ability to access a login. In that case, they may be able to talk their way into having IT reset the password, simultaneously allowing them access to the system and denying the rightful user the ability to log in.

 

Phishing

Phishing is becoming incredibly common with many people moving to remote working frameworks and having workstations set up in their homes. Phishing is an attacker’s attempt to imitate or masquerade as a trusted source, tricking the user into clicking a link that initiates an attack, an exploit, or potentially steals confidential information or credentials. Common phishing attempts resemble an email that resembles an unrequested password reset, tricking the user into clicking a link to “protect their account”.

 

Denial-Of-Service Attacks

Distributed denial-of-service attacks, or DDoS, are often initiated when an attacker wants to gain access to a website or more extensive system. The attacker will send a constant stream of requests to the server, often from hundreds or even thousands of individual machines, with the objective of crashing the server that the system is hosted on. When the server crashes, it creates additional opportunities for the attackers to infiltrate the system and do whatever they want.

 

Malware

One of the most popular attacks is using some form of malware to infect a user on a trusted system, potentially allowing deeper penetration. Ransomware makes up nearly one-quarter of all malware incidents, and overall, more than 7 out of 10 breaches have financial motivation. Malware is often one of the results of clicking on phishing links and having unknown software deliver a payload to the user’s system.

 

Network & Firewall Misconfiguration

Another prevalent cause behind data leaks and data breaches, particularly in smaller organizations, is the misconfiguration of essential IT barriers like firewalls. Smaller companies often have challenges securing their networks without hiring expensive IT personnel, leading to the possibility that some aspect of their network security fails or isn’t configured for optimal security. This can allow an attacker to connect to and infiltrate the network involved more easily.

 

 

Weak Password Policies

Many organizations do not implement strong password policies, allowing easily-compromised credentials to be created on their networks and opening them up to potential attacks. Strong passwords will not only be of a sufficient length and complexity, using a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, but they will also not contain any word in the dictionary, nor will they have been used on other systems where passwords have been exposed.

 

Internal Actors

Sometimes, the network and policies themselves are sufficiently secure, and the problem comes from within. Internal employees that are either forced or convinced to provide access to attackers can devastate collections of confidential data. These can be dedicated employees who are forced or blackmailed by attackers to provide access, while in other cases, they may be current employees that are unhappy and see a chance to lash out. This is also a technique used by those who engage in industrial espionage, who get hired with the express goal of either stealing confidential or proprietary data or allowing access to other unauthorized parties.

 

Stolen Credentials

Stolen credentials are a very common way that attackers can gain access to sensitive data. Credentials for authorized users on the network can be stolen in other ways, such as through social engineering or phishing attacks, and simply used to access the network by posing as a legitimate user.

 

How to Prevent Data Leaks & Data Breaches

There are countless ways that data leaks and breaches can happen, and the number of ways to prevent them is equally extensive. While there is no perfect network and data security solution, some best practices can significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access. Enacting the processes outlined here can help your organization minimize its risk of leaks, breaches, and ultimate loss.

 

Intrusion Detection Systems

Having some form of intrusion detection is essential; otherwise, you could have attackers coming and going every second of the day and never know it. The average length of time it takes to identify a breach has occured is 287 days. With sufficient intrusion detection efforts, that time can be significantly reduced, leading to a much quicker completion of the entire data breach cycle.

 

Create an Incident Response Plan

Once a data breach has been discovered, it takes an average of 80 days to contain it. This means that in most cases, a data breach is active for nearly a year before it can be effectively contained. That is why it is crucial to have a rapid and effective incident response plan, or IRP, that can be implemented immediately after a breach is discovered.

 

Ensure All Backdoors Are Removed

Backdoors are included in countless software products, and they often allow vendors or support teams to slip past many network security measures so that updates or patches can be pushed. This is also a common way remote access troubleshooting programs work and why they must be used sparingly and closely monitored. Backdoors that are left open or are found by cybercriminals can be used to gain access to secured systems or data.

 

Have Your Network Tested

Periodic network penetration testing is one of the most effective ways of being proactive in finding vulnerabilities or data leaks in your network. In-house IT teams can do penetration testing or by working with third-party agencies or firms. The goal in either scenario is to find vulnerabilities or security flaws and address them before they are discovered by cybercriminals and exploited.

 

Vital Aspects of Data Loss Prevention

Creating an effective and multi-faceted data loss prevention strategy can be complex, but being able to secure your organization’s data is worth it. There are estimates that by 2025, the worldwide cost of cybercrime will rise to more than $10 trillion, appreciating at approximately 15% each year. Some of the most essential elements of effective data loss prevention are below.

 

Data Encryption

Encrypting data is a solid step toward securing your data, even if a breach occurs. Encrypting all data, whether stored or transmitted, will significantly ensure that data is secured. Even if a breach is found, the encrypted data will be useless to those in possession of it.

 

Detection Of Data Leaks

If your data loss prevention strategy has any shortcomings or holes, a comprehensive data leak detection solution can ensure that the problem does not go unnoticed. If a leak is detected, it could indicate a larger security issue or simply a flaw or gap in an existing data loss prevention initiative. Using a third party to monitor for data leaks can help give an objective assessment of the issue.

 

Endpoint Security

With the explosion in remote work over the last several years, endpoint security has become a critical consideration. With many workers moving to personal environments to conduct company business, a level of physical security with those located in offices has become challenging to maintain, leaving those agents as potential targets for cyberattacks. Software endpoint agents can help detect and respond to potential threats.

 

Zero-Trust

A zero-trust framework is a security scheme that requires all users on a network to be authorized, authenticated, and validated on an ongoing basis. This protocol is used for all users in a zero-trust network regardless of whether they are in physical proximity to the network or located remotely. This is the ideal framework for networks with no conventional networking edge, which are becoming increasingly common with the migration to remote workforces.

 

Privileged Access Management

Privileged access management, or PAM, is a network security framework that, while not as effective as a zero-trust strategy, is more cost-effective. It can also be implemented more easily on large networks and on a shorter timeline. This framework aims to only share sensitive information with those deemed to have a critical need for it.

 

Recognize The Differences Between Data Loss, Data Leaks, And Data Breaches

Information technology and data security are constantly evolving, making it an ongoing effort to prevent cybercrime. Data leaks and breaches can lead to more than just data loss; it can result in the complete loss of customer or client confidence, which can cause severe and irreversible damage to the image of your organization. This means it is vital for the health of any business to understand the differences between data leaks and breaches, as well as how to protect against them.

Backup and disaster recovery is just one of the services that is a part of Edge Networks’ Managed IT Services. If you’re interested in learning more, contact us today . We take the time to understand your unique business needs and customize solutions to meet them, and we deliver technologies that boost productivity, performance, and business growth.

7 Cybersecurity Tips for Small/Medium Businesses

Cybersecurity Tips for Small and Medium Businesses

If you run an SMB (a small or medium business), you likely know by now that most things are going digital. Because of this, there is a rising threat of cyberattacks every day. Hackers are starting to become more creative with their methods and attempting to steal data that may contain sensitive information. We’ll be sharing a few cybersecurity tips for small and medium businesses so you know what you can do to help prevent cyberattacks and what to do in the event of one. Cyberattacks can cripple a business (temporarily or permanently), so it’s important to take these cybersecurity tips to heart and take every precaution necessary to protect the data of your business and customers. With that said, let’s dive right in.

 

1. Backup all your data

This is rule number one in terms of protecting your data, sensitive information, and everything in between. It’s a task that you need to do regularly, but thankfully many computer systems can be set up to automate this process. 

Another thing you want to note is the risks that come with backing up all your data in one place. Things happen – whether you accidentally misplace or damage your hard drive, a natural disaster occurs, a virus or cyberattack occurs, or the hard drive is stolen. To help prevent situations where you lose access to this data, consider using cloud storage which allows you to access your data almost anywhere you get Internet access.

Furthermore, you should consider using an external hard drive in case the internal hard drive in your system loses your data or an accident happens. If you have the backups saved to an external hard drive, you can later reupload it to a new computer system. 

You don’t want to mess up this process. If you are doing it manually, you’ll want to set a schedule where you will be able to get it done. Another option is to do automatic backups, which saves you time and frustration and gets the job done so you can prioritize other things.

 

cybersecurity tips

2. Encrypt your data for an extra line of defense

While backing up your data is critical, you might consider encrypting it as well. Think of it like this: it’s an extra line of defense against cybercriminals and hackers trying to access the data they are after. It’s like putting something valuable into a very secure safe that is complex to break into. The more encrypted it is (or the more complex the safe is), the harder it will be for a hacker to break into. It will take creative and sophisticated methods to do it and will be no easy task for an amateur hacker. 

Installing encryption on all your devices and drives will be important. You’ll want to know where all your sensitive data is stored. This includes but is not limited to the following: 

  • Email addresses
  • Names
  • Credit/debit card numbers
  • Other financial information
  • Addresses
  • Phone numbers

This is just a sample list of the pieces of sensitive data hackers and cybercriminals are after. The reason for this is that most of them will use it for identity theft purposes to create all kinds of havoc.

For example, someone could steal the identity of one of your customers and open up loans on their behalf. As a result, this can hurt the real person’s credit score. For that person, it will cost them time and money just to fix the damage that’s done to them.

Cybercriminals will go to almost any length to make life difficult for people and to get what they want, which is why we should all take cybersecurity seriously.

Think about it: you are handling what could be the most sensitive data a customer is giving you. They trust you enough to protect it. Some may be cautious not to hand over such data in the first place, but it is ultimately your responsibility to keep it safe.

 

cybersecurity tips

3. Use Firewalls to Defend Your Data

Some might feel that firewalls are outdated. However, it’s one of the first things you should install whenever you launch a new computer system. The options for firewall software are endless.

You’ll want to invest in one that will fit within your budget that still offers a strong protection. This is not the place to settle on what’s cheapest. Quality should always be the first thing you consider with a firewall, even if it comes with a bigger price tag.

 

4. Make protection against viruses, spyware, and malware a priority

Viruses, spyware, and malware are threat to not only personal device, but company computers and networks as well. You could come across a website that is riddled with them and not even know it. 

The good news is that there is plenty of software available to you that can stop these threats dead in their tracks and will notify you of potential viruses, spyware, or malware present on the sites you visit online. Your modern anti-virus software should offer updates regularly, and it’s important that you set up automatic updates to ensure you’re on top of things.

Furthermore, your anti-virus software should work in the background to ensure that it will stop any kind of infection from happening. Again, you’ll want to find one that will give you the best protection possible while fitting within your budget.

Some of the software can be purchased on a one-time licensing deal. Others will likely ask you to pay a subscription fee (either monthly or annually). The financially smart option will be to purchase an annual subscription as it can potentially reduce monthly expenses.

The same goes for cloud services, cybersecurity protection, and more. If you are handling your business finances, decide how much money you want to spend per year on cybersecurity protection.

5. Don’t Discount Physical Theft

During closing hours, burglaries can happen, targeting all businesses, regardless of size. Thieves can break in and steal your computer hard drives or other items that can contain the sensitive data your business has (including customer information).

It would be wise to take precautionary measures to ensure that your assets are kept safe and are accounted for. Making sure employees know the content of the assets and how to keep them safe is equally important.

This includes data that they can access on their cell phones and computers, be it at home or on the go. If they use apps that they can access anywhere on their personal devices, you’ll want to stress the importance of being responsible and protecting their devices from loss or theft.

 

6. Use Strong Passwords

This can’t be said enough. Strong passwords need to be issued. If you allow access to each employee, make sure they have a unique password that is strong enough not to be compromised. 

Also, make sure you explicitly tell them not to share their passwords with other employees or unauthorized business personnel. Consider the idea of changing passwords on a regular basis. A good time frame will be to change passwords every quarter (every January, April, July, and October), or keep your passwords safe in a password management system.

 

7. Invest in Cybersecurity Training for You and Your Team

Your employees should be trained on the basics of cybersecurity. Implement a set of rules that they should follow to keep all pieces of data protected. You can find many helpful resources online, both free and paid, to help teach good cybersecurity practices, such as videos, workbooks, and more. Your employee handbook should state your policies and what to do in case of a data breach or cyberattack.

 

The Impact Of Cyber Attacks And How To Prevent Them

Let’s talk about the impact of cyberattacks. Here’s a list of what you’ll be dealing with in the event of one:

 

Financial loss

One of the biggest ways cyberattacks can harm a business is by causing financial loss. Businesses can lose hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars, due to cyber-attacks. SMBs in particular lose anywhere between $25000 to $50000 per cyber attack. This money can be lost due to hackers holding your data ransom, by replacing your stolen or infected assets, losing customers due to a damaged reputation, and more.

 

Loss of trust

With customers’ data being exposed, the trust between them and your business will quickly erode. Soon, they will begin to question whether they’d be willing to hand over their personal information to you ever again.

If anything, that loss of trust may not be regained at all. They’ll do business elsewhere, and you’ll lose a customer. For that reason, you’ll want to retain the trust of your clients and customers by ensuring their data is protected.

Yes, things beyond our control can happen. However, you are responsible for protecting your customers’ data from cybercrimes and technological failure that could result in data loss.

Preventative measures

As for preventative measures, you want to use the tips listed above. This includes backing up your data regularly, installing firewalls, and encrypting data. Furthermore, you’ll want to ensure your employees are trained to handle sensitive data and are using strong and unique passwords.

One of the most critical things you can do is ensure you and every employee receives basic training on cybersecurity and data handling. A course can be put together where they can learn about the basic cybersecurity measures they can take to protect critical business data. 

The more preventative measures you take, the more likely it is that you can protect your business from cyberattacks. It is important for you to cover your bases whether you are using an existing system or starting from scratch with a new one.

You can install cybersecurity software on your own or have a Managed Cybersecurity Service get it done for a fee. Either way, take the necessary precautions now rather than later.

 

Final Thoughts

If you are a small or medium business owner, you could be a target for cybercriminals and not even know it. That’s why you want to follow the tips listed above to protect your system from the inside and out. Sensitive data can be stolen, and it can be used in other cybercrimes.

A person’s identity can be compromised, and they might not realize it until it’s too late. Do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening while protecting your business and its reputation from such attacks.

If all these cybersecurity tips seems overwhelming, don’t worry! If you’d like to find out how your company is performing and isolate weaknesses in your cyber defenses, or to discuss what type of security measures you should be taking, our experts are here to help when you’re ready.

Just schedule a call with us, or take our free, self-guided IT Security Risk Assessment. 

Do You Know the True Cost of Data Loss?

You Lose More Than Data with Data Loss

Cybersecurity is more important than ever, especially when it comes to the issue of data loss. With a single hack, businesses can lose a ton of precious data. But what does that mean for your business?

Data loss is more than simply losing client information and trade secrets, though those things would already be a big issue for a company. This article will discuss the true costs of data loss that people don’t always consider. Additionally, we will discuss what you need to do to prevent data loss in the future (even if you’ve dealt with it already). You never know if and when another hack can happen, or when an employee can make a mistake. It is best to be prepared and take preventative measures to protect your data to minimize the threat to your business.

 

What is the actual cost of data loss?

In 2018, one study found that the monetary cost for data loss was approximately $3.6 million. This is close to $141 per data record. Data loss can be very costly, no matter how much data is lost, and the costs continue to rise. In 2019, the cost related to data loss had reached nearly $4 million on average worldwide, and in the United States alone, the costs are double the global average. The increase in costs raises alarms for businesses, making many people question whether or not their current cybersecurity protection is up to par. 

As hackers continue to become more creative in their tactics and attacks against computers (both commercial and residential), the cybersecurity industry has the opportunity to try and stay one step ahead of the bad guys. 

Plus, these hacks can be more devastating than previous attacks. That alone can lead to more costs (and the figures continuing to rise). That is why businesses need to take necessary precautions in protecting data. 

However, data loss is not only linked to cyber attacks. It can be caused by other incidents that may be beyond human control.

 

Risks and hazards that contribute to data loss

Aside from cybercrimes, there are some risks and hazards that can cause data loss. Some of them are beyond human control.

Here are a few examples:

  • Human error: Yes, human error is one of the largest risks and hazards of data loss outside of cybercrime. Specifically, two major factors are accidental deletions of specific files or a lack of competence. Unless backup measures are implemented, there would be no way of recovering any of the lost data.
  • Natural disasters: Depending on the data center’s location, there is the threat of natural disasters. These include tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and many more. Any data area that lives in an area where they are vulnerable to natural disasters should have backup measures in place, just in case something happens. It’s challenging to predict when and where the next major natural disaster will happen. When it does, a data center could be affected by it. Thus, data loss can become a certainty if nothing is done to prepare and prevent it.
  • Outages: Unexpected outages have been known to cause data loss. In the United States, a business could lose almost $8000 per minute. That’s nearly half a million dollars in a single hour. Such outages and data loss could financially cripple an entire small business. This is one more reason why backing up critical data is the best course of action compared to never doing it at all.
  • No access to data: If you are unable to access the data, it can lead to the loss of data itself, as well as time and money. Without access to the data, a business’s productivity will suffer. Plus, the costs will be higher. Depending on the size of the business, they can stand to lose anywhere from tens of thousands to well over a million dollars in one hour alone.

 

The other costs of data loss

Needless to say, money won’t be the only thing that data loss will cost your business.

Here’s what you could stand to lose in a situation with data loss:

  • Lost wages: Employees won’t have the ability to work because of how dependent your business is on data. Thus, they’ll have nothing to do. You send your employees home, and they don’t get paid because they won’t be able to work. This could hurt employees who are paid at an hourly rate.
  • Productivity is halted: As mentioned before, your business may be dependent on data. It might be the fuel it needs to ensure that productivity continues. Without it, there is no work to be done. Because of its need for data, there are apps and systems that will stop working if there is data loss. With a stoppage in productivity, the costs begin to stack up. As the clock goes, so goes the money in the bank.
  • Lost revenue: Because of data loss, productivity will stop, and the work won’t get done. This means that your business won’t be able to take and process orders, or will not be able to provide the promised service. When this happens, you will lose revenue instantly. No sales are made, and no orders will go through. Even though no money will be able to go in, money will always find a way out by way of your business expenses, employee wages, and so on.
  • Potential fines: This will depend on the industry that your business may be in. Some industries have to take data handling even more seriously than others. Failure to do so can lead to fines (and perhaps even more serious consequences). The fines and penalties may range per record. One business in the financial industry could lose millions of dollars in fines alone due to its failure to protect sensitive data. The healthcare industry could also be fined for potential violations of HIPAA.
  • A loss of trust and credibility: Customers and clients want to have the confidence in knowing their data is safe. If there is a data loss, that confidence will drop. Clients may lose trust in you because you didn’t do enough for data protection. Regaining trust and credibility will be a challenge for any business that has dealt with loss. This and trying to recoup their financial losses go hand in hand.

 

What measures should you take to prevent data loss?

As such, preventative measures should be taken in order to prevent future data loss. Yes, you can prevent it to an extent. However, there are risks due to incidents beyond anyone’s control (such as natural disasters and outages).

Let’s take a look at what you need to do in order to minimize such instances:

  • Backup data regularly: This is self-explanatory. And a must-do task for any business that is handling amounts of data, small or large. Find a program that will allow you to back up data on a regular basis. This includes cloud services that will back up your data for a monthly fee (which can be higher depending on the amount of storage space you want). It may be an expense, but it can be one that will save you money and a ton of headaches just in case of disaster.
  • Hire people who are competent in data handling: As mentioned before, human error is one of the more significant causes of data loss outside of cybercrime. For this reason, you must find people that will handle your data with care. They need to be knowledgeable and competent enough to handle it (and know what not to delete).
  • Test your cybersecurity infrastructure: It’s important to test what software and systems you have in place to protect your business from cybercriminals. You’ll want to have a cybersecurity specialist perform penetration testing. They’ll try to find vulnerabilities that exist and seal them off from attacks if any are present.

Other than that, there is no way to prevent events beyond our control. We cannot predict the next outage, nor a major disaster like a tornado or a hurricane. That’s why it’s good to backup data and make sure it’s accessible anywhere else instead of having it all situated in one central place (like your office).

If you can find a cloud service that allows you to access data from anywhere in the world, you will have no trouble keeping your business data safe. Don’t take any chances keeping data in one single place, such as extra hard drives and computers.

Cloud data services need no physical hardware for storage on your end. All you can do is access it from a computer so long as you have the right credentials.

 

What is the difference between data loss and data leaks/breaches?

Data losses are when incidents occur leading to the loss of data. It can be either misplaced or lost to the point where it can never be retrieved. Meanwhile, data leaks or breaches are when information is accessed by cybercriminals and successfully stolen.

Either way, they are costly occurrences that can cost businesses a ton of money. Even if there is data left to be recovered, your business could lose money for time and productivity lost. Regardless, prevention of these occurrences is your best line of defense. 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the average cost for data loss in 2021?

In 2021, the average cost of data loss was $4.24 million worldwide. This was nearly a 10 percent increase from the previous numbers reported in 2020.

 

How much can recovery from data breaches cost?

Data breaches can occur and will not result in significant data loss. However, the recovery process can be just as costly. Data breaches can cost a business a total of $2 million. That figure can differ depending on the business’s size or the industry they are in.

 

How much will ransomware cost businesses?

In a 2021 report, cybercrime will lead to losses of more than $10 trillion worldwide. This also includes ransomware attacks, which may account for nearly $20 billion of those losses within the next year. The costs can vary from one industry to another. But collectively, the costs will add up.

 

How many cyberattacks happen daily?

Cyberattacks worldwide happen at least 2200 times per day. By these numbers, a cyberattack will occur every 39 seconds. That’s why it is essential to protect the sensitive data your business handles on a regular basis.

 

Why are data breaches so expensive?

The COVID-19 pandemic and the increase in remote work may have played a role in the increased cost of data breaches. Remote work may have led to slow response times, thus leading to increased costs – including nearly $750,000 alone to respond to cyberattacks and data breaches alone.

 

What was the most expensive data breach in history?

The most expensive data breach in history was Epsilon, which lost $4 billion in 2011 after a cyberattack. This affected many of their clients, including several large brands like JPMorgan, Chase, and Best Buy.

 

Final Thoughts

Your business may be at risk for potential data loss. That’s why it is important to follow any possible security measures to protect it from cybercriminals. Also, backing up such data on a regular basis is essential.

Occurrences beyond your control can lead to data loss if it isn’t backed up. That’s why you want to consider backup tools that rely on the cloud. You get plenty of storage space, and you can keep it safe regardless of what happens to your business’s technological infrastructure.

Don’t take any chances. Make sure everything is safe and protected so you can have peace of mind knowing your most sensitive data is safe.

Cybersecurity Strategy Series Episode 1: Proactive Technologies

Which Security Solutions Does Your Business Need?

It is no secret that technology is improving at a rapid rate. In fact, technology growth is multiplying by 2x every 18 months, and over 89% of big data has been produced within the last 2 years. Unfortunately, the risks associated with using technology has been growing just as quickly. It seems to be a never ending battle to try to prevent cyberattacks, and businesses must be more prepared with a cybersecurity strategy than ever before.

So what can we do about this?

There are many solutions to protect advanced threats. Depending on the type of data your company is storing, there are varying levels of protections that you may want to have in place. This is where speaking to a cybersecurity consultant may be helpful to find out exactly which solutions are out there, and get a recommendation specific to your business.

However, there are minimum solutions that every company should have in place, whether you are a small business, or a large enterprise. In this first installment in our Cybersecurity Strategy Series, we are going over these Proactive Technologies. As both technology and threats grow, these may change, but for now, we have outlined the minimum steps that every company should take to protect themselves in 2022.

 

Step 1: Replace Standard Antivirus with Next Generation Antimalware / EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response)

EDR is not only an antivirus solution, but can also show a step-by-step view of how a malicious process was executed. This is crucial for collecting information for a forensic investigation. A good EDR must be connected with 24/7 monitoring & response, and use artificial intelligence, algorithms, behavioral detection, machine learning, and exploit mitigation to detect threats.

Some EDR solutions that meet these expectations:

CrowdStrike, Carbon Black, Sentinel One, FireEye Endpoint Security HX, Cortex XDR and CyberReason.

 

 

Step 2: Implement Multifactor Authentication… Everywhere

Multifactor Authentication, or MFA, is a security measure that can be implemented on any platform you log into. It requires an additional method of authentication after you input your password, which usually consists of a code sent to your phone or to a specified app. With MFA, an attacker wouldn’t be able to gain access to your accounts, even if they had your credentials.

Where should MFA be implemented?

Everywhere! That means your email client, VPN’s, anything that connects to the cloud, remote management systems, and anywhere administrative functions can be performed. Anywhere you can add MFA, you should be adding MFA.

 

 

Step 3: Back Up Data with Air Gap Technology

Considering how many things can cause data loss, backing up your company’s data is crucial. It could be lost to ransomware, an internal attack, or even employee error. Not all backups are created the same, however.

What should your backups contain?

Backups should contain an air gap, which is a technical configuration of the backup environment where your data is backed up offline and separate from your business environment. Cloud solutions should have local on-premise appliance to facilitate local caching with immutable storage. All access must be MFA protected and, preferably, not authenticated by Active Directory.  Finally, backup recovery must be tested at least annually.

 

 

Step 4: Deploy a Patch Management Strategy

There is a reason that systems are constantly being patched, even years after deployment. Hackers love taking advantage of vulnerabilities, and patches work to minimize this risk. Any company should ensure systems and applications are being patched on a regular basis using an automatic process, rather than having someone deploy these manually. Additionally, patch levels must be tracked. Any new patches should be implemented within 10 business days, and zero-day patches should be implemented within 24 hours

What are some possible patching solutions?

There are some management tools that can automate this procees. Some of the better solutions are SCCM, ManageEngine, and Intune.

 

cybersecurity strategy

 

It’s Time to be Proactive in Your Cybersecurity Strategy

These are some great technologies that your business can use to be proactive in your cybersecurity strategy, and are recommended for every business. However, every industry has different needs, and may even have additional requirements to meet compliance standards.

If this seems overwhelming, don’t worry! If you’d like to find out how your company is performing and isolate weaknesses in your cyber defenses, or to discuss what type of security measures you should be taking, our experts are here to help when you’re ready. Just schedule a call with us, or take our free, self-guided IT Security Risk Assessment. 

The Risks Your Employees are Taking by Using Public Wi-Fi

Could Your Employees be Accidentally Putting Your Cybersecurity at Risk?

Whether in an airport, a hotel, or a nearby coffee shop, your staff will occasionally discover that accessing public Wi-Fi is inevitable, despite the hazards. Because of an office-closing emergency, team members may be required to react to an urgent request while traveling or working remotely. In any scenario, your company’s and clients’ data is likely to transit via these open networks, where bad actors might intercept it and exploit it to gain access to your systems. 

Allowing workers to work from home has a number of benefits, including increased safety and comfort and increased productivity. Remote working, on the other hand, is not without its drawbacks. If your team works from coffee shops, trains, or airports, be aware of the seven hidden perils of public Wi-Fi and learn about what you can do to mitigate the risks.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced millions of employees to work from unorthodox areas far from the office, and with this has come many dangers for business and entire industries. 

What’s the good news? It’s rather straightforward to reduce the dangers if you and your staff follow a few simple principles. Consider them fundamental hygiene principles for your laptop or phone, similar to using a digital hand sanitizer.

 

The Risks Of Public Wi-Fi

While it may appear that keeping Wi-Fi active when leaving the office is innocuous, it puts the employee and entire company at risk. When on the go, Wi-Fi-enabled devices might leak the network names (SSIDs) they regularly connect to. An attacker can then use this information to imitate and appear to be a known “trusted” network that is not encrypted. Many devices will join these “trusted” open networks without first confirming that they are real. 

To encourage consumers to connect, attackers don’t always need to imitate well-known networks. Some recent polling says that as many as two-thirds of individuals who use public Wi-Fi configure their devices to connect automatically to adjacent networks without checking the ones they’re joining. Uh oh.

A cybercriminal can launch several harmful assaults if your employee automatically connects to a hostile network or is misled into doing so. The attacker might use the network connection to intercept and manipulate any unencrypted material transmitted to the employee’s device. That means they may embed malicious payloads inside seemingly harmless web pages or other material, allowing them to take advantage of any software flaws on the device.

 

Once malicious information is installed on a device, various technical assaults against other, more critical components of the device’s software and operating system are feasible. Some vulnerabilities offer the attacker administrative or root-level access, giving them almost complete control of the device. All data, access, and functionality on the device are potentially compromised if an attacker gets this degree of access. The attacker can either delete or modify the information or encrypt it with ransomware and demand payment in exchange for the key.

The attacker might even use the data to spoof and imitate the employee who owns and uses the device. This type of deception may have disastrous effects on businesses. By impersonating a member of the Twitter IT staff, a Florida teenager was able to take over many high-profile Twitter accounts last year.

Here are some of the most common Wi-Fi attacks that employees could run into while using public Wi-Fi at the library, local coffee shop, or even at home:

 

Man-In-The-Middle Attacks

Connecting to free public Wi-Fi exposes your firm to the danger of having your data captured by third parties. This is a problem because hackers may place themselves between your employees utilizing Wi-Fi and the connecting point.

 

Ad Hocs

Peer-to-peer networks, or ad hoc networks, are peer-to-peer networks that link two computers directly. When remote employees join a public Wi-Fi network, their devices are likely to be programmed to automatically identify new networks, allowing hackers to connect to them directly.

 

When you log on to a public Wi-Fi network, your passwords and usernames are vulnerable to being stolen. Secure socket layer (SSL) or HTTPS websites give a necessary level of protection.

 

Worm Attacks

Worms behave similarly to viruses, with one notable exception. Viruses require software to attack in order to compromise a system, whereas worms may cause havoc on their own. When you join a public Wi-Fi network, you risk a worm spreading from another device on the network to your computer.

 

Eavesdropping

Hackers employing specific software packages to eavesdrop on Wi-Fi transmissions are another public Wi-Fi concern. This gives hackers access to anything your remote workers do online, giving them the ability to steal login passwords and possibly take over your accounts.

 

Hackers can potentially use an unprotected Wi-Fi connection to spread malware. Infected software on your computers and gadgets might put your company’s finances in jeopardy.

 

Rogue Wi-Fi

You and your colleagues may be duped into connecting to a rogue Wi-Fi network set up by a hacker. That “Free Wi-Fi” network might have been put up specifically to capture your company’s essential data.

 

How To Stay Safe With Wi-Fi

Be Picky

Not all public Wi-Fi networks are made equal; some are trustworthy, while others are harmful by nature. Employees who may work remotely should be taught not to join such networks by default.

Therefore, how should workers decide which network to join?

One that is safe, requiring a password to join or directing users to a registration or sign-in page — and that information is delivered to you by an employee or signs within a company. Man-in-the-middle attacks, which include hostile actors interposing themselves between your data and the websites you visit, recording everything, and sending malware to you, are possible over unsecured networks. 

Most essential, confirm the name of your chosen network with a network provider representative. Look at the list of public networks accessible at Atlanta International Airport, for example. You’ll see that several of them have identical names, such as Atlanta Airport Public and ATL Public. Double-check those network names since one of them might easily be a rogue hotspot set up by a hostile actor who is ready and able to exploit misconfigured connections.

Second, attempt to use public networks provided by well-known firms such as international coffee chains or hotel chains. These businesses must safeguard their brands and maintain reasonable network security.

 

Adjust Your Behavior

Even secure public Wi-Fi networks are fundamentally dangerous, so only use them for short periods. After all, you have no way of knowing which security steps were taken, how often software is updated, or anything else. You should alter your conduct as a result.

Stick to websites that encrypt data transfer, for example. The address bar for these sites has a padlock icon, and the URLs begin with “https” rather than “http”; the “s” stands for “secure.”

 Before connecting to a public network, you also need to enable Windows Firewall or another security tool.

Avoid using a public network to access any websites or apps requiring a password or containing sensitive information, no matter how tempting it seems. That implies there will be no banking or social media platforms. After all, there’s a good possibility a hostile actor has infiltrated the connection, so if you can avoid it, don’t dangle the keys to your digital safes on public Wi-Fi.

There are methods to avoid using public Wi-Fi when you’re not at work if you’re ready to invest. Most mobile phones may act as mobile hotspots, utilizing cellular data to connect another device, such as a laptop, to the internet. You may also buy a specialized mobile hotspot device, which has the advantage of accommodating several users at the same time.

 

Use VPN

If your organization does not provide a corporate virtual private network, consider installing and utilizing a VPN service on all of your devices, especially while accessing a public Wi-Fi network.

The added peace of mind can be well worth the small outlay and inconvenience. Thanks to these applications, the only site your smartphone contacts directly is a single encrypted web address. All of your internet traffic is then routed through a secure, end-to-end encryption system. However, keep in mind that a VPN is only as reliable as the people who manage it, so this is not the place to go for a free or low-cost VPN.

However, utilizing a VPN does not ensure your safety. Whoever might steal the credentials you need to get onto that VPN set up the network, especially if your organization doesn’t enforce multifactor authentication. If you do log in, change your password once you’ve returned to a secure network.

But, there is even more a company can do to ensure its employees stay safe no matter where they roam in the virtual world.

Employees should be educated about risk. Connecting to public Wi-Fi without restriction has become commonplace, and most individuals are unaware of the dangers. Informing your staff about the risks might significantly influence their behavior. Nobody wants to be the one who causes a data leak or a hack.

Verify users regularly. Early detection is critical if an attacker gains access to an employee’s device. Consider building on technology that can continually verify users without adding additional friction to improve security. Passive biometrics, for example, confirms each user’s identification based on their natural behavior, such as how they hold their device or type, allowing many intruders to be detected before they can cause major harm.

Work arrangements will continue to change as the pandemic draws to a close. It’s hard to predict exactly how work will evolve in the future. However, it’s a good idea to start planning today for a future where “working from home” doesn’t always mean working from home.

 

Wait Or Use Cellular

Next time you’re about to join on to public Wi-Fi for work, pause and consider whether it can wait. If you answered yes, you should press the pause button. Add the item to your to-do list for when you’re at work or at home with safe internet access.

When utilizing public Wi-Fi, browsers and websites use HTTPS and traffic encryption to protect them. As a result, it is relatively risk-free for users. However, depending on the sort of job you conduct, business data may be a different story.

If you can’t wait, you can use cellular data to connect. You may accomplish this by connecting with your phone, for example, by utilizing the Zoom app for your next video conversation. Tethering another device to your mobile smartphone and then accessing the internet is another method. All data transferred over the cellular network is automatically encrypted by your phone. This protects you from various typical scams, such as connecting to a false public wifi network or having someone nearby use eavesdropping equipment to view the data you send. 

If you don’t have access to cellular services, such as when there isn’t one, another alternative is to connect over public wifi and use a browser with built-in encryption. This makes it far more difficult for a threat actor to intercept your data and subsequently get access to your account using your credentials.

 

Conclusion

Connecting via secure Wi-Fi used to be a lot easier. After all, the line between work and home was clearer back then. We felt the lines were hazy at the time. Then there was the pandemic. The limits had vanished entirely. Expectations for constantly being on soared to heights we never imagined imaginable.

Employees began to take advantage of their flexibility by working from anywhere. For some, this meant working in a rented property across the nation for months at a time. Others took advantage of the opportunity to go to the supermarket during their lunch break. Most of us are now in more scenarios where we need to do business outside of our secure internet connection.

It’s absurd to expect employees never to use unprotected Wi-Fi to do business. After all, many of them require staff to be available at all times, no matter what. Instead, the best strategy is to find a realistic and practical solution to reconcile security with today’s business requirements. Also, be prepared to acknowledge that being constantly connected isn’t the best solution for the firm or the individual.

If you need help navigating cybersecurity, Edge Networks is here for you! Take our free, self-guided IT Security Risk Assessment, or contact us today for a free, 30-minute consultation.