Cybersecurity Awareness Month: 10 Tips to Improve Business Security
I can’t over explain how important it is to keep business security in mind. Whether we’re discussing cybersecurity within digital systems, or countermeasures put in place to prevent damage or theft. Protecting your business ensures less financial loss, less operational disruption, and less reputation damage. Loss, disruption, and damage; these daunting words are just a click away from being a harsh reality within your business. My goal is to educate you on some ways you can help further prevent these negative consequences from occurring.
I try not to speak too much on the basic things, such as keeping your passwords complex, or software up to date. Instead, I like to focus on the more intermediate, admin-focused countermeasures that I see often get overlooked or avoided due to cost, whether it be monetary or labor. Below are 10 ways to improve your business’ physical and digital security!
Implement Access Controls
Physical: Limit access to sensitive areas and use biometric or multi-factor authentication for entry points. This doesn’t have to be over-complicated, think keyfobs or PIN-code access into buildings.
Digital: Configure MFA for sensitive systems, implement role-based access controls, and regularly review user privileges.
Regular Security Audits
Physical: Conduct routine inspection of facilities, security systems, and emergency exits. Walk fence-lines and ensure that barriers of entry have not been damaged and are structurally sound. Verify locking systems on doors are working and meet your security requirements.
Digital: Perform bi-annual or annual vulnerability assessments using a third-party auditing firm. This will help you better understand how and where your vulnerabilities are within your business’ IT systems and will help you secure them. This is also mandatory in some cases for compliance reasons.
Employee Training and Awareness
Physical: Educate employees about security procedures, emergency response plans, and any policies that involve safety and security compliance.
Digital: Train staff on phishing prevention, different social engineering tactics, and secure password practices. Educate them on what to do in the case of a cyber-incident, and how to alert the proper authorities where it be an manager or IT administrator.
Utilize Data Encryption
Physical: Encrypt sensitive data stored on external devices, or any physical media. If you still use tapes (sorry), be sure to keep these labeled and kept in a secure location.
Digital: We should always be looking for ways to increase privacy when sharing data, especially for sensitive or personally identifiable information. There are many tools out there to assist you with encrypted file sharing, e-mail, and server to client communications. If you host a private cloud, ensure that robust encryption is being used between edge devices and web databases.
Incident Response Training
Physical: We never know when an emergency will occur, so we need to be ready. Think about your location and any active threats and develop plans for handling physical breaches, natural disasters, and other emergencies.
Digital: A comprehensive disaster response plan is critical for businesses to be able to continue operating in the case of a cyberattack or large-scale outage. This should include procedures for containing, investigating, and recovering from security incidents.
Network Segmentation
Physical: Isolate critical systems and data from the “general” network. This will limit potential damage and interruption from not-critical systems if they ever have issues or experience a security incident.. For example, you wouldn’t want a guest device on Hotel Wi-Fi to be on the same network as a Manager’s PC!
Digital: Create separate network segments for different departments, and use firewalls to control the traffic between them.
Maintenance Upkeep
Physical: Ensure upkeep of all physical security measures (e.g. access controls, surveillance, fencing, locks,). If there is embedded software in any of these systems, ensure that it is up to date.
Digital: Keep operating systems, applications, and security software compliant and updated to address any newly discovered vulnerabilities. Utilize RMM software to make it easier to keep up with all of the different devices you might be supporting.
Backup & Disaster Recovery
Physical: Maintain regular backups of important documents and data and store them securely off-site in the case of a natural disaster.
Digital: Implement a robust backup strategy, including regular backups of both data and system configurations. Test these backups, and regularly review data repositories to ensure healthy upkeep. Utilize long-term “Cold storage” for archives wherever possible.
Vendor and Partner Management
Physical: Evaluate the security practices of third-party vendors and partners who have access to your facilities and critical data.
Digital: Require strong security measures from vendors and partners, including privacy agreements and regular security assessments.
Surveillance + Monitoring
Physical: Install surveillance systems, alarm systems, and secure physical barriers to deter unauthorized access. Regularly review these systems to ensure their running health.
Digital: Use network monitoring tools to detect unusual activity on the network. Protect any unused data ports in the office or building and ensure that proper filtering is in place for proper access control.
