In the digital age, personal data is the most important asset companies have. Its market value is constantly increasing.
The year 2020 has highlighted just how important it is to protect customer data. Work circumstances, social unrest, health concerns, and political challenges have made it harder than ever for businesses to protect themselves from data breaches.
Businesses, be them large enterprises or small mom and pop shops, have become targets of cyber criminals. Phishing scams, identity theft, ransomware, and other targeted malicious attacks are on the rise. One statistic states that nearly 8.4 billion records were exposed during the first quarter of 2020. This equals a 273 percent increase compared with a similar time span in 2019.
Businesses around the globe are reevaluating their cybersecurity posture. They are demanding more from their hosting providers. Many businesses had to improve their online presence and embrace digital transformation more than ever in order to survive the pandemic. What happened in Canada is a great example of what most businesses around the globe had to go through.
Even though many Canadian businesses were already working on their digital transformation strategies, the COVID-19 situation is responsible for speeding the process up to the point where they couldn’t keep up with it like they did before the pandemic.
With most of their workforce working from home, that included migrating their information to the cloud, rethinking their cybersecurity strategies and educating their remote working employees on how to secure their devices and company‘s data, making sure they’re hosting their website on a secure and reputable web hosting platform, embracing new ways of communication, and so on.
The best web hosts will always offer a secure sockets layer (SSL) to create an encrypted connection when you visit a website, to the point that it shouldn’t be a security measure that you need to buy separately. According to Toronto-based website and software developer Gary Stevens of Hosting Canada, If you’re thinking about paying for a SSL certificate, don’t. Legitimate hosts will give it to you for free. You definitely need it, though, because Google has already started the process of degrading search engine rankings for those that don’t.
Not only in Canada, but every company around the world that managed the crisis successfully, shouldn’t rest yet – a new wave of even more sophisticated cyberattacks is on the rise. The main goal is to have stronger cybersecurity by 2021. To achieve this, organizations must employ the following best practices less they lose the confidence of their customers and clients.
It All Starts with a Plan for Prevention
Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. This may be a tired axiom, but its truthfulness has been proven time and time again, especially where cybersecurity is concerned.
Data breach prevention plans must be developed and then employed. An organization‘s plan will vary based on the type of information the company handles.
For example, financial information must be handled in compliance with PCI. Medical information must be handled in compliance with HIPAA. Plans must take these compliances into consideration.
Other factors include where the data is stored and how the data is stored. Data stored on premise will need to be protected differently than data stored in the cloud or using a hybrid solution.
Finally, the plan should lay out the steps that will be taken if there is a breach. Organizations have the responsibility to inform customers, government agencies, or other individuals of the breach.
The goal of the plan is to serve as a guide for how to address data breach issues. The plan should be flexible, allowing it to adapt to evolving cybersecurity threats.
Employee Training Is a Must
There is no such thing as 100 percent cybersecurity. Cyber criminals are constantly evolving their tactics. An organization’s response must evolve as well. Employee training is the most important part of cybersecurity.
Training should be more than just repeating warnings or fear mongering. Training should be educational. It should increase organizational awareness about current cybersecurity threats. Although not all employees will understand the technical aspects of it, they should have a basic understanding of cybersecurity prevention techniques and how those apply to them.
Training should be repetitive enough to leave an impression on employees. However, it should not so repetitive that it becomes white noise. The goal is to help employees be aware of the types of threats they might face and take the steps to prevent them.
When cyber breaches occur, they should not be used to vilify the individual who served as the point of entry. Instead, they should be used as an educational device to help everyone see what steps they can take in the future to prevent a similar attack from happening.
Create a Demarcation between Personal and Business Hardware
Work from home means an increased likelihood of using personal devices for business and business devices for personal affairs. However, doing this creates a larger risk profile. Most people do not have the same security measures on their personal devices as are on their work devices.
Having separate personal and business devices requires a large financial investment. Not all companies or people will make this investment. This may require businesses to identify secure mechanisms that allow employees to store sensitive information on their personal devices without opening the way for cyber criminals to violate the security of the company, leading to an embarrassing data breach.
Use Security Features That Are in Place
When you look at the major data breaches that took place in 2020, the vast majority of them were not super sophisticated or futuristic attacks. They were simple. They exploited vulnerabilities that could have been protected if proper security features were in place or if the existing security features were used adequately.
Regardless of an organization’s size, they can encrypt information. Encryption may not prevent a data breach. However, it can minimize the extent to which the stolen data can be used. Encrypted data with no encryption key is meaningless.
Email spoofing attacks can be prevented by securing email domains. Companies should implement email authentication protocols. They should train employees to ask themselves questions before opening an email. For example, if you are an entry-level employee and you do not work on high-priority or high-cost projects, is it likely that you would really get an email from the CFO, CEO, or from upper management? If not, think before you open an email. Verify before you respond to an email. Do not click if you cannot verify the source of the email.
A simple security feature is keeping software and applications updated. When possible, software and applications should be scheduled to update automatically. Manually updating and patching software can be time-consuming, so it is often forgotten, leaving the door open for cyber criminals.
Finally, most organizations require remote workers to use a VPN connection. VPN connections encrypt information and ensure that sensitive information being transmitted from point A to point B is not interrupted.
Conclusion
It all boils down to mindset. Data management is not just for large enterprises. Small businesses must take data management seriously. Small businesses are the target now. Cyber criminals see them as soft targets because they lack the intricate cybersecurity infrastructure that larger organizations possess.
Owners, management, and employees must understand that data breaches create problems that can last for a long time. Customers lose trust in the organization. There could be liabilities for damage, especially if the data breach harms a third-party. And there could be fines from government organizations if compliance rules were not followed.
