Beef up your defenses with these simple security best practices
Whether you're developing a security strategy from scratch or overhauling your existing procedures, a good place to start is staff training and DNS security
Hackers and cybercriminals are known to work into the wee hours, but that doesn't mean you need to lie awake in bed worrying over your company's security. You can achieve peace of mind knowing your digital assets are protected from malware, and particularly ransomware, by implementing some basic security best practices.
A robust, long-term security strategy includes implementing a hardy backup and recovery solution to mitigate the damage of a potential security breach and developing a risk management document that governs IT decisions and procurement processes and.
But there are simple steps you can take in the short term that can stave off disaster:
Educate your employees
Employees take risks in cyberspace every day without even realizing it. Whether it’s not reading a website’s privacy policy, nonchalantly clicking on links in unsolicited emails, or slightly changing (or reusing) old passwords, employees inadvertently create windows of opportunity for cybercriminals. Some believe (falsely) that they can rely on their browser's security to protect them from malicious sites, while others neglect to update their browser, missing crucial security updates. Even the auto-complete feature for online forms in browsers can pose and risk and should be disabled.
These practices can lead to a malware attack, of which the most problematic type of late has been ransomware, which holds your data and applications hostage, grinding your business to a halt until you pay up.
Each of your employees should be trained in basic security best practices so that they know how to detect and avoid anything suspicious and that they’re making use of the latest security protections available for the hardware and software they use.
Consider DNS security
The Domain Name System (DNS) is what maps domain names to IP addresses. When a link is clicked, a DNS request is issued in order to connect the device to the internet. DNS security is a solution that analyzes such requests, determining if the destination site contains any malicious content.
Unlike content filtering (also called information filtering), which screens potentially harmful webpage content based on selected criteria—making it easy to unintentionally block content you may actually want—the DNS security provider maintains a continuously updated intelligence database of known threats to automatically block risky requests. You'll receive an alert or report the moment anything is amiss so that you can take immediate action if necessary.
If you're worried that your employees aren't as vigilant as they should be while working online, DNS security can help fill in the gaps by taking care of some crucial security best practices automatically.
Keeping security tight is an ongoing process without a single easy fix, but training your staff well and backing them up with proper DNS security makes for a good one-two punch. Before you know it, you'll rest easy in the knowledge that your company's digital profile is well protected.