Simple Steps to Cyber Security

April 14th, 2017 by admin

It seems like there are always more and new threats out there on the internet. Viruses, malware, ransomware, trojan horses, and hackers trying to steal your data. We want to review a few steps you can take to educate your staff about security measures.

Phishing emails: They seem harmless, but every now and then an email will slip through your basic spam filter and land in your inbox. The subject line looks innocent and the email could even be coming from a friend or colleague. They might ask you to transfer money to a certain account to help them, click on a weird link, or use strange language to recommend purchasing something. It is important to talk to your team about how internal work emails look and to use caution with sensitive data. Phishing emails are easy to mistake for real ones when you're in a rush, and can lead to ransomware downloading onto your machine, taking your data hostage.

Two-Step Authentication/Verification: If anyone gets a hold of your password, they can easily log in without a second verification step. What does that mean? You set up an email or phone notification that sends you a code that you then type in with your login. That way it is much harder to hack into your system without tripping over several "alarms". They'll end up looking for different fish to fry.

Password Safety: This means choosing something more complicated than your dog's name and your birthday year. The best passwords are only used once each and none of them shared between different accounts. A good way to create a safe password is to combine several letters - both lower and upper case (not a word though), a few numbers, and some punctuation. Each account you create could have different password guidelines, so you may need to adjust accordingly. Stuck? Write out a random sentence - "Good dogs come quickly" and take the first letter of each - Gdcq plus some numbers like 483 and !?! --> Gdcq483!?! is much more secure than Sally1983! and will provide better protections against hackers.

Suspicious Apps & Mobile Security: Did you know that you can install anti-virus applications on smartphones? Too many devices are being used with business emails and data, while lacking the necessary protections. We can help you find the holes in your security and educate your team on how to identify unsafe apps.

We think its better to be safe, rather than struggling to remove malicious threats and deal with stolen data. These steps are only basic ways to improve your protections. So don't wait, and contact the Connect Group to ask for a consultation and assessment of your current network security.
https://www.theconnectgroup.com/services.aspx

Posted in: Cyber Security