Cybersecurity tips for employees are crucial for businesses of any size. They are relevant to the safety and success of your company whether you have a single employee or 50,000.
Keeping all software up to date is one of the most important cybersecurity tips for employees. Software updates often include security patches that can help protect your devices and data from new threats. When a new cybersecurity threat is discovered, businesses need to act quickly to patch their systems and protect their employees and customers.
The alternative to being prepared takes a pricey toll. Take, for example, the famed Colonial Pipeline cyber attack. Colonial Pipeline, based in Georgia, was the victim of a ransomware attack in the spring of 2020. The attack was frightening for a number of reasons. Primary amongst them is the company’s central status in the United States and our thirst for refined oil. It was a blow to critical infrastructure that immediately impacted oil and gas production and prices. Eastern European criminals were suspected but did not claim responsibility.
“The attack on the Colonial Pipeline was not so much a pivotal moment for ransomware attacks as it was a pivotal moment for the risks to critical infrastructure,” Gartner Vice President Analyst Katell Thielemann told CSO. It raised awareness of the potential pitfalls of operational systems and the massive impact these attacks can have on economic stability.
Small businesses are equally at risk. In fact, 43 percent of cyber attacks target small businesses. The majority of these are ransomware attacks and nearly 60 percent of small businesses that experience a ransomware attack are forced to close their doors within six months.
The moral of the story is cybersecurity should be taken seriously by businesses of all sizes. Here are seven cybersecurity tips for employees to help keep your data safe:
7 Cybersecurity Tips
Fortify user accounts
When everyone is working remotely, user accounts must be properly secured. One way to achieve this is by setting at least 12-character long passwords with numbers and special characters mixed in to make them more difficult to guess. More importantly, these passwords must be unique to each account, to minimize the damage if hackers do manage to compromise one set of credentials. If you find it difficult to generate and remember login details for all your accounts, consider password managers such as LastPass, Dashlane, and Keeper.
To further strengthen your accounts, however, you’ll also need to enable multifactor authentication (MFA). This adds another layer of identity verification — like fingerprint scans or one-time activation codes generated by SMS — to make it more difficult for cybercriminals to hijack your accounts.
Fortifying user accounts is one of the most important cybersecurity tips for employees. By setting strong passwords and enabling multifactor authentication, you can make it much more difficult for hackers to gain access to your data.
Hackers are always looking for ways to take advantage of weak security, so it’s important to stay ahead of them by regularly updating your password practices and using the latest cybersecurity tools.
Use a virtual private network (VPN)
VPNs are primarily known for circumventing geographic restrictions on location-specific websites and streaming services, but they’re also a crucial tool for remote workers. A reliable VPN creates secure connections between devices and networks by encrypting internet traffic. This hides web activity from prying eyes, protecting your employees’ online privacy, and mitigating the risk of hackers stealing company information.
When choosing a VPN for your business, be sure to select one that offers robust security features, such as military grade encryption, strict no-logging policies, and DNS leak protection. You should also consider the number of simultaneous connections allowed and server locations, as these can impact performance.
If you’re working remotely, using a virtual private network (VPN) is essential for protecting your online privacy and keeping your data safe from hackers. Look for a VPN with robust security features, including military grade encryption and strict no-logging policies.
Patch your software regularly
Although installing software updates can be a major nuisance, they cover critical weaknesses and protect your systems from the latest threats. Most apps now offer an automatic update feature so you don’t have to manually patch your software.
Another option for your business is patch management software. These track patches on employee devices and distribute the most recent updates on a company-wide scale.
Patching your software regularly is important for protecting your systems from cybersecurity threats. You can automate this process by enabling the automatic update feature in your apps, or using patch management software to track and distribute updates on all employee devices.
Set up firewalls and antivirus software
Make sure to enable firewalls in your operating systems and hardware. These provide a strong layer of protection between your device and the internet, preventing malicious programs and other network threats from reaching your device. Your managed IT services provider (MSP) may also provide third-party firewalls in case your computers don’t have any built in by default.
In addition to firewalls, you’ll also want to implement antivirus software to detect and remove any malicious programs that do manage to find their way onto your device. Just remember to constantly update the software so it can effectively detect the newest malware.
By setting up firewalls and antivirus software, you can create a strong barrier between your devices and potential cybersecurity threats. Be sure to update your antivirus software regularly so it can effectively detect the newest malware.
Secure home routers
Home Wi-Fi routers are not as thoroughly secured as their business counterparts so take extra precautions to safeguard them. For starters, change your router password as soon as possible because hackers can easily break into them once they know the router model. You should also install the latest firmware updates to eliminate any security vulnerabilities.
Finally, check whether your router has Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) encryption settings to secure inbound and outbound traffic. If your router doesn’t have this setting, you’re overdue for an upgrade.
Back up your data
Important files must be backed up regularly in the cloud and your external hard drive. This way, you’ll always have a copy of your files in case of a major data loss incident like ransomware or a power outage.
You should also keep an offline backup of your most crucial data in case hackers manage to encrypt your online files and demand a ransom for the decryption key. This is becoming increasingly common, so it’s important to be prepared.
By backing up your data regularly, you can protect your files from being lost or corrupted in the event of a cybersecurity incident. Be sure to keep an offline backup as well, in case your online files are encrypted by hackers.
Watch out for online scams
The biggest threat remote workers face is online scams. Phishing emails may entice you with free coronavirus test kits in exchange for personal information. Some cybercriminals may even masquerade as legitimate companies, CEOs, or friends to trick you into clicking on dangerous links and attachments.
To avoid these threats, you must be critical of everything you see online. Look for any suspicious links and attachments, grammatical errors in the email body, and misspelled email addresses. Plus, never give out sensitive information to an unsolicited email, text message, or phone call.
The modern world poses many cybersecurity challenges for businesses, but you don’t have to address them alone. If you need guidance with setting up firewalls, avoiding scams, and even enabling MFA, we can provide the IT support you need.
Finally, we also include comprehensive cybersecurity training for employees in our ClearONE package for businesses of all sizes and industries. Los Angeles cybersecurity experts are standing by to help, so reach out for quality IT support in the LA region today. We also offer IT consulting in Los Angeles and comprehensive cybersecurity assessments for business owners curious to learn more.