Let’s discuss four data security best practices and how to correctly implement them in your organization.
Cybersecurity can feel overwhelming for many businesses. There are new threats every week, headlines about data leaks, and vendors pushing shiny solutions that promise absolute security.
But here’s the truth most people don’t hear: The majority of breaches you read about, well over 80%, could have been prevented by addressing the basics. That number could even be closer to 95% of breaches being avoidable.
Read this blog to learn four proven cybersecurity practices that stop most breaches before they ever happen.
As a cybersecurity professional, I often encounter admin privileges where they don’t belong. This is a problem because the first thing a threat actor will do is use that admin access to exploit your entire network.
To combat this, I suggest that only a small handful of trusted IT pros should have admin rights. Everyone else should use standard user accounts.
Here’s how you can test if this is the case. See if your sales team can download anything they want, install random programs, or tweak system settings. If they can, you’ve got a security risk waiting to happen.
Here’s some ideas for how to limit admin privileges:
Remember, fewer admin accounts means fewer ways for threat actors to access your sensitive data.
Imagine your office building had 100 doors and you only locked a few of them, hoping intruders would pick the “right” ones to stay out of. That’s what blacklisting software does; it blocks known harmful programs, but leaves everything else wide open.
Application whitelisting flips that. Instead of guessing what to block, you decide exactly which programs are allowed.
While this does mean more work for your IT team and the occasional email asking about software approval, it makes a world of difference. Communicating with your entire organization frequently about which systems are allowed keeps random and risky applications from exploiting your environment.
Threat actors will often just wait for you to skip a critical update. This is why software developers release patches quickly when vulnerabilities are discovered. And yet, we often forget to update our software, leaving us open to bad actors.
Consistently update software across your entire digital infrastructure, including:
Set a recurring schedule and automate updates where you can. Pay attention to when a vendor stops supporting tools (like Microsoft's cessation of support for older Internet Explorer versions) and upgrade immediately.
Remote access is amazing for helping employees with IT problems, and yet it’s also one of the top ways breaches occur. If your remote desktop tools aren’t configured securely, attackers can stroll right past your firewalls.
Here are some best practices to follow to restrict your remote access:
A single misconfigured remote access tool has been the root cause of some of the most expensive breaches in history. Don’t let yours be next.
Use these four cybersecurity practices to stop breaches well before they happen. They’re not a fix all, but they are the best place to start. Remember, consistently implementing best cybersecurity practices is the only way to actually secure your environment.
Make an implementation plan, maybe it’s addressing one of the four every couple of weeks and making sure you’re still on track. If you need more assistance, speak with SecurityMetrics experts who know the best way to secure your sensitive data.
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