The conversation about cybercrime has kind of become white noise, right? There are so many scams, hacks, and major data breaches that it’s hard to stay engaged.
Instead of telling you all about the latest multi-million-dollar data breach, or explaining the intricacies of 256-bit encryption, let’s keep things simple…
6 Low-Cost Ways To Boost Your Cybersecurity
- Implement Multi-Factor Authentication: Multi-factor authentication is a great way to add an extra layer of protection to the existing system and account logins. By requiring a second piece of information like a randomly-generated numerical code sent by text message, you’re able to make sure that the person using the login credentials is actually who they say they are.
- Manage Your Passwords: One of the best ways to maintain complex passwords is with a password manager. Password managers are the key to keeping your passwords secure. A password manager generates, keeps track of, and retrieves complex and long passwords for you to protect your vital online information. It also remembers your PINS, credit card numbers, and three-digit CVV codes if you choose this option.
- Verify Your Backups: Do you have a data backup solution in place? If you have a data backup solution, then it doesn’t matter if your data has been encrypted, as is likely to happen in a ransomware attack. You can just replace it with your backup, simple as that. However, your backup won’t amount to much if you don’t check that it’s actually working. That’s why you should make a considerable investment in a comprehensive backup data recovery solution so that you can restore your data at a moment’s notice when necessary.
- Review Your Authorized Users: Maintaining up-to-date authorization policies is a critical part of cybersecurity. If you forget to disable a fired employee’s login credentials, they could become a dangerous threat to your organization. That’s why you need to have clear policies for how access and authorization are given to new employees and taken from ex-employees. Reviewing these details should be a regular practice for whoever is in charge of your IT.
- Watch Out For Red Flags: Cybercriminals rely on your lack of attention to small details in order to slip past defenses. For example, you should know that reputable URLs now start with “HTTPS” rather than “HTTP”. It’s easy to remember – the “s” stands for “secure”. Furthermore, any slight misspelling in an email address, subject line, or body of the email should be considered a red flag. Similarly, fake URLs are a popular tool for cybercriminals. Always be sure to hover your mouse over a link in an email, or on an unfamiliar website, before clicking it. That allows you to see where it actually leads. While it may look harmless, the actual URL may show otherwise, so always look, and rarely click.
- Stay Up To Date: The bottom line is that you need to pay attention to developments in cybercrime. If you don’t know how cybercriminals operate, how can you expect to stay ahead of them? Make ongoing awareness a part of your cybersecurity culture.
You Can’t Afford To Cut Corners On Your Cybersecurity
If you’ve followed these tips and still feel unsure about your cybersecurity, then you need to do something about it. Invest in a little expert protection – Envizion IT.
We can put our big business cybersecurity expertise to work for you, implementing best practices, identifying vulnerabilities, and protecting you against the more common and dangerous cybercrime scams.
