Cybersecurity Best Practices
As our businesses continue to be steered by the digital world, our vulnerabilities to cyberspace hackers also increase. The best thing you can do for your business to decrease risk is to create awareness surrounding cybersecurity. Apart from software-based solutions, your credit union will benefit from the following additional cybersecurity measures:
Regular Software Updates
Software updates offer plenty of benefits. It’s all about revisions. These might include repairing security holes that have been discovered and fixing or removing computer bugs. Updates can add new features to your devices and remove outdated ones. Hackers will always scan your network for security flaws, also known as software vulnerabilities. A software vulnerability is a security hole or weakness found in a software program or operating system. Hackers can take advantage of the weakness by writing code to target the vulnerability. The code is packaged into malware or malicious software.
An exploit sometimes can infect your computer with no action on your part other than viewing a rogue website, opening a compromised message, or playing infected media. This, in turn, gives hackers access to data saved on your device or allows the attacker to gain control over your computer entirely and encrypt your files. Software updates often include software patches. They cover the security holes to keep hackers out. The faster you update your applications, the harder you make it for them to attack.
While cybersecurity mainly concerns you and your own personal information, you should also consider how your vulnerabilities can impact other people as well. If your device gets a virus, you could pass it on to your friends, family, and business associates. Keep your software updated, protect your peeps!
While a trusted antivirus program can help, it’s really not enough. Point blank, make sure you are updating your devices. If you’re still not keen on clicking “Update now,” you may be able to configure your devices to update automatically. If so, your problem is solved.
Employee Training
Security awareness training is critical because cyber threats abound in our always-connected work environments. What’s more, threats are continually changing. The common thread for some of the most significant threats today is people, your employees. Hackers know people can provide soft attack surfaces to make their exploits successful.
Employees cannot be expected to know what threats exist or what to do about them on their own. They need to be taught what their employers consider risky or acceptable, what clues to look for that indicate threats, and how to respond when they see them. Security awareness training helps get everyone in an organization on the same page, reduces risks and incidents, and helps the entire workforce protect their organization and themselves.
Outlining Formal Security Policies
Simply put, a security policy is a single document (or more commonly, a set of related documents) that describes the security controls that govern an organization's systems, behavior, and activities to help protect a company's assets and its ability to conduct business.
The goal when writing an organizational information security policy is to provide relevant direction and value to the individuals within an organization with regard to security. Implement and regularly enforce security policies that all employees must follow, and hold regular meetings and seminars to stress the importance of cybersecurity.
A Practical Incident Response Plan
Although preventive measures are better, you must prepare for actual breaches with a thorough incident response plan (IRP). Your staff should respond quickly and effectively to contain attacks before they cause too much damage. The key to an IRP is that it is orderly and systematic, well thought out. When a breach occurs, a company may go directly into damage control, and mayhem might ensue. Breaches cost companies time and money. The longer any vulnerabilities go unresolved, the more extensive damage to a company.
The goals of your company’s incident response plan should be to:
Restore operations
Minimize losses
Fix vulnerabilities quickly and thoroughly
Strengthen security to avoid future incidents
An incident response plan will allow for your business to address vulnerabilities before they become a more serious threat. Quick resolutions minimize the damage to your company’s finances and reputation.
Security defenses will continue to evolve as cybersecurity professionals identify new threats and new ways to combat them. To reduce your vulnerabilities, employees need to be educated about cybersecurity processes and potential threats, understand the preventative plans that are put in place, and frequently update their systems to ensure that it can protect users against the latest cyber threats. Your small business is bound to enjoy long-term growth if you implement these cybersecurity solutions and best practices.
