Best cyber security practices for Enterprises to stay cyber secure
In wake of the rising incidences of targeted attacks on enterprises, there is no way organizations can afford to ignore the importance of cyber security. Regardless of the size and type of enterprise, even a small data breach or cyber-attack could mean millions of dollars of loss, crippling the economy of the enterprise.
It is for this reason that as a thumb rule, enterprises start following these good cyber security practices, to be cyber secure against known and unknown threats:
- Invest in Security Solutions – An enterprise may be subjected to various kinds of threats and thus, to ensure enterprise-wide security, it is a good practise to invest in a variety of security solutions that cover the changing needs of an organization.
- Use Complex & Unique Passwords – As a thumb rule, enterprises must encourage employees to use strong and unique passwords and prohibit them from sharing their credentials.
- Invest in Training – Educate and train employees about cyber security so that they are cautious about clicking suspicious links, sharing sensitive data and responding to security alerts.
- Backup Your Data – Follow the 3-2-1 rule when it comes to data backup, meaning that maintain 3 varying copies of your crucial data in 2 different formats, where at least 1 of the data storage locations should be offline.
- Robust Security Policies – In order to ensure that both employees and third parties follow the security policies, it is important to strictly convey the enterprise security policies and expectations.
- Use Updated Software – Using expired software is as good as counting on a dead security solution. Thus, it is a good practice to keep your software updated to the latest version, to safeguard your organization against evolving threats.
- Data Encryption – It is advisable to encrypt all the saved and backed-up data, while providing access rights to only limited and specific personnel.
- Two-Factor Authentication – An additional and reliable login procedure is to use two-factor authentication that uses a secondary device like a mobile for access authentication.
- Have an MDM Plan – It is important to monitor and regulate the mobile device usage of employees since, they often use it for accessing sensitive data and company Emails, while using company’s wireless network. This may serve as a soft vulnerability for attacks.
- Change Default Credentials – Several IoT devices that come with default passwords that make it easy for malware to target such IoT devices. Thus, it is a good practice to change these default credentials.
- Secured Wi-Fi – A device can connect to only those Wi-Fi networks which have a known SSID. Thus, to prevent an unknown device from connecting to the Wi-Fi network of your enterprise, a good security mechanism is to use a hidden SSID to prevent it from getting broadcast.
- Limited Access Right Grant – Anyone who requests access to a resource, should be provided with minimum access rights and that too for the shortest duration necessary. Such restricted delegation of access rights can limit attackers from intruding into systems.
- Server OS Hardening – To address the security of your enterprise adequately, it is advisable to configure and harden the operating system. This typically involves removing all the unnecessary applications, services and network protocols.