05 Dec The 12 Days Of A Secure Christmas
Don’t expect any Golden Rings, French Hens or Leaping Lords, and instead of your true love sending you gifts, it will be us giving you a Christmas gift of advice to help keep you secure and your Xmas merry indeed. This year our festive gift to you are the Twelve Days of a Secure Christmas, so Let us begin our journey together.
On the 1st Day of a Secure Christmas, my IT advised me – On Passwords
Set security policies for passwords in your company!! Make sure everyone is as secure as possible by using strong passwords. Look to use long and strong passwords or key phrases that make it hard to guess or crack. Look into Password management tools such as Last pass to help and don’t use the same password for multiple sites.
On The 2nd Day of a Secure Christmas, my IT advised me – About Security Awareness
It is estimated that human error is a contributory factor in 90% of all date breaches and as the complexity of attacks become more sophisticated, your staff are your weakest link. Train your staff so that they know about data security, phishing attacks as well as about policies and procedures. Don’t let them get caught out and put on the naughty list. Discover Staff Training >>
On the 3rd Day of a Secure Christmas, my IT advised me – To Use Multi Factor Authentication
Multi-Factor authentication add a great additional layer of security to systems and software you log into making it more secure. Whilst It will involve additional steps such as authorising from your phone with a code, the extra level is important.
On the 4th Day of a Secure Christmas, my IT advised me – About Updates
Hackers and viruses look to exploit any vulnerabilities and work to find these in software and systems. It is for this reason we get updates and patches which look to improve efficiency and also plug security floors that could be exploited.
You must make sure all devices are up to date across the organisation, failing to update one could leave you exposed to greater risks.
Discover our Support that includes updates >>
On the 5th Day of a Secure Christmas, my IT advised me – To Implement Advanced Endpoint Detection & Response
Endpoints are the doors open to the wider world and where cyber-attacks often start. We need to protect these from malware, viruses and cyber-attacks and use advanced detection tools to look incidents or changes that shouldn’t be happening and taking remedial action to close down the threat using advanced endpoint security.
On the 6th Day of a Secure Christmas, my IT advised me – Get Dark Web Monitoring
The dark web is a salubrious place where personal and financial information goes to be sold once obtained. This is the same for business data, with emails and passwords for sale to people wishing to do bad deeds. You need to know when any of your companies’ credentials are up for sale, so you can firm up security. Call us on 0114 361 0062 to get our Team to run a dark web report for you.
On the 7th Day of a Secure Christmas, my IT advised me – To Think SEIM/Log Management
SIEM is (Security Information and Event Management) It is important that you capture all events and security logs from devices. This helps to identify threats or malicious activities and will be needed if you fall victim to a cyber-attack. Insurance companies will also want this information if they are asked to cover any security catastrophe.
On the 8th Day of a Secure Christmas, my IT advised me – About Web Gateway Security
Cloud based security detects web and email threats as they emerge on the internet and blocks them from accessing your network. This smart service is one of your forward defences and a must to secure your business.
On the 9th Day of a Secure Christmas, my IT advised me – To Use Mobile Device Security
Phones and tablets can also be a security risk, these are easy to lose and contain personal information as well as potential access to systems. Take control with Mobile Device Management and ensure you secure your portable assets.
On the 10th Day of a Secure Christmas, my IT advised me – Use a Firewall
Have a big wall around your business to keep out invaders and repel the enemy, this is your firewall and a vital step in securing your business.
On the 11th Day of a Secure Christmas, my IT advised me – The Benefits of Encryption
In a ransomware attack, hackers encrypt data, why? Because it makes it very difficult to access the data. We can do the same, making life difficult for the bad guys by making sure all sensitive files are encrypted in rest and in motion (email and especially on mobile devices).
On the 12th Day of a Secure Christmas, my IT advised me – To Please Backup Data
A big Christmas wish is that you make sure that your files are all backed up, offsite and in the cloud. Test your backups regularly to and make sure they are all working properly. If you have the last 3 months’ worth of data encrypted by an attacker, you need to ensure you have the critical data to get you back up and running. If your looking for advice call us.
We hope all of this festive cheer and advice is useful and can be used to ensure you get presents not coal in the company stocking this year.
From all of us here at the Netcom team we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year