As threat levels continue to rise and the cybersecurity landscape is becoming supercharged with growing and ever-evolving threats, there are steps your organization can and should be taking to protect itself.
We are seeing different types of ransomware pop up each month, with growing numbers of cyber actors in the competitive landscape. We are not alone in our warning: the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned organizations to take action immediately given the current threat landscape in order to mitigate cyber threats. You can read more of their formal warning here.
It’s harder than ever to keep your organization secure, but there are proactive steps you can take.
8 Steps to Take as Threat Levels Rise
- Verify access controls. This means verifying that staff passwords are unique to your business systems and are not shared across non-business systems.
- Check that your system patching is up to date and continue to maintain it. Up-to-date patching should include laptops, desktops and mobile devices within your organization.
- Regularly review your backups. Are they running correctly? Are they stored safely?
- Perform regular external vulnerability scans. The best way to protect your organization is to regularly evaluate where your vulnerabilities lie and address them.
- Check that antivirus and firewalls are working. It’s not enough just to set these up–make sure you are regularly checking functionality.
- Cyberattack response plan. If your organization has a cybersecurity incident (phishing, ransomware, etc.), do you have a clear plan in place? Do all decision-makers know the plan and immediate action steps?
- Understand third-party access to your organization. Make sure you know exactly who has access to your systems. Make this as limited as possible.
- Communicate with your organization. Communicate with employees, c-suite members and everyone in between. Make sure they know the plan if there is a cyberattack. Make sure they are informed of the signs of phishing and ransomware. Communication is key!
A proactive approach to cybersecurity is the best approach. If Clarity Technology Group can help your organization develop a comprehensive and proactive cybersecurity plan, we would love to help. Get in touch with our qualified team of IT experts here.