The Covid-19 era was a time of heightened cyberattacks. Remote workers provided more opportunities for cybercriminals. Interpol talks of an “increased online dependency” referring to how much more activity is now happening online.
Moving forward, businesses need to tackle this new cyber threat by developing new and improved IT security defences. This is particularly the case for firms contemplating pivoting to a hybrid model.
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Keep Software Updated
Your software providers have the difficult job of responding to entrance points for cyber criminals within their software. As soon as they find an entrance point or their software faces a cyber-attack, they will send out patches. By downloading these patches, you can keep cyber criminals out.
The most efficient way of doing this is by investing in patch management solutions, which will automatically update your software as soon as patches are released.
You should be careful when installing patches. When businesses using the remote working software Kaseya VSA were tricked into installing ransomware disguised as a patch, they unknowingly welcomed the REvil hacking group into their systems.
During the attacks, over 1,000 US businesses had data encrypted and stolen, forced to pay a ransom to get it back. These types of attacks underscore the need to show caution when installing patches.
Backup Data Regularly
The first thing that Interpol recommends in their ‘Cyber Safety Checklist’ is the need to backup your data. Data can be lost in a huge number of ways, such as device loss or hardware malfunction. But the most concerning way that data is lost, is through ransomware attacks.
Cybercrime Magazine estimates that in 2019 a business was attacked with ransomware every 14 seconds. With the Covid-19 pandemic, these numbers have only increased further.
Ransomware attacks can be largely avoided through best practices when clicking on links. But you cannot assume your business will never be targeted. Backing up your data is the best way of avoiding having to give huge amounts of money to cybercriminals.
Instead of paying a ransom, with good backups, you can simply re-download any lost data. Whether you choose to backup on local servers or remotely via the cloud, effective backups will limit downtime as much as possible.
Innovation Free of Cyber-Attacks
The current cybersecurity market is rich with excellent IT solutions. Firms can control your patch management, meaning that your software is always safely up-to-date.
IT support providers can also keep your data backed up, so you never lose a single byte. By installing the latest IT security solutions, businesses have no excuse for letting cybercriminals in the easy way. And that could save you from hefty data privacy fines.
However, investing in IT security solutions against cybercrime alone is not enough. You need to be much more agile than that, adapting to the most prevalent cyber threats.
You need to know how cybercriminals operate and ensure that your staff is aware of the threat. It’s worth bearing in mind that more than 90% of breaches are due to human error.
