In the world of cybersecurity, there’s a constant arms race between companies and hackers. While businesses increase their security protocols, hackers are innovating new methodologies on how to crack them. For that reason, companies are trying to stay ahead of the game and ensure they employ the latest technologies to thwart potential attacks. Here are the top five cybersecurity trends that companies will be employing in 2019 to not only counter hackers but also increase the efficiency and usability of their IT systems.
1) Employee Training Sessions
A little bit goes a long way when it comes to cybersecurity. Generally, hackers are looking to exploit easy targets which sometimes doesn’t even involve them in running elaborate attacks against a company’s IT security protocol. Instead, they target weak passwords, send emails with viruses or malware, or take advantage of easy login information. By creating a simple set of guidelines that all employees must follow and holding short routine briefing sessions, you can go a long way to shore up security.
Also, using a VPN service in all areas of work is becoming a crucial security measure. Without any doubt, this trend will continue in 2019, too. Besides installing VPN on employee computers, smartphone security shouldn’t be forgotten either.
2) Keeping Access to a Minimum
Start by creating a list of authorized users. From here, you can assign them various levels of access depending on their rank and position in the company. These days, you can get very specific as well. You can allow employees access to certain apps even function within them depending on their role. Each computer should also require login information, and no guest should be allowed to use a company laptop. This is not because they may steal information, but because they may not be trained in the above-mentioned guidelines.
3) Changing Passwords Regularly
This is another way of ensuring access is only granted to the right people. Each person at the company should have their own unique login and complex password. This password should be automatically fixed to reset every 90 days at the most. If you need to grant guest access to your network, create a specific guest account with minimal access. Also, restrict privileges, especially regarding downloads. For temporary hires and contractors, you can likewise create unique logins and passwords that are only valid for a certain amount of time.
4) Understanding Your SaaS Service
More and more companies are moving over to cloud-based Software as a Service model to run their business. This trend has increased corporate efficiency and accessibility and indeed takes advantage of the best of the internet age. However, blindly moving everything over to a SaaSservice company is a lot like handing your car keys to a random person and saying “drive me somewhere.”
Before choosing a SaaS provider, do a thorough background check to ensure they have a solid reputation. More than anything, you need to look into their security history and whether or not their data has been breached. All companies do face the potential of being hacked, so this isn’t necessarily a red flag. Instead,you should ask them the following questions to verify they’ve improved their security protocol:
- Does your company have a dedicated security task force? How many people are on it?
- Has your system been routinely subjected to penetration forms of testing? When was the last test performed and was the internal personnel or a third-party service responsible for that?
- How often do you upgrade your SaaS platform and will there be any outages that affect my service? Will I be able to work offline during maintenance?
- What happens after I delete my data? Is it permanently deleted and overwritten?
- What is the disaster recovery protocol? Has it been tested and how frequently?
Most of these questions should have pretty clear “yes” answers, and the frequency should be at the most between 30-60 days. If the provider cannot answer any of these questions, you need to search for a different company.
5) Conducting Routine Cybersecurity Evaluations
This is the final step in the cybersecurity puzzle. Remember, there’s just so much that goes into creating a security package and with hackers constantly trying to find any potential crack in the armor, it is essential to routinely run a full-systems analysis. This is a lot more than just launching Norton Antivirus.
Instead, you need your IT team or your IT consultant to perform a thorough system check. What they’ll need to do is go through everything from your online platform to your internal networks and computers and everything else. The main goal is to ensure that everything is running well so that any flaws can stay minister and be remedied easily.
Getting Cybersecurity Right for Your Business in 2019
When it comes to the success of your business, cybersecurity is of utmost importance. You need to protect your and customers’ data and your platform from any potential threats. By following these trends, you can be certain that your company is well-protected against the most creative hackers so that your business is well-guarded and ready to thrive in 2019.