The Cybersecurity Strategies and Solutions you need to Implement

When owning a small or medium business (SMB), you must have the proper cybersecurity strategies and solutions in today’s digital landscape. Even a basic risk assessment and planning can be the best solution for your SMB. A risk assessment is the best way to implement a protection plan in the case of a cyberattack. With a risk assessment, you can achieve:     

Employee training and awareness: One of the most common ways a cybercriminal will access your network is through your employees. Keeping your employees aware of common tactics and how to protect their networks is your first line of defense. Consider doing semi-annual training to keep employees informed on current trends.      

Strong password controls: Training isn’t the only thing you can do with your employees; you can also implement strong password controls. A strong password is the most well-known rule regarding cybersecurity, but it is not always followed by most people. At your business, having controls for employees to implement strong passwords for the login will help regulate password protection. The stronger an employee’s password is, the more accessible defense to a safer digital landscape.   

Patch Management: Just like a bad password, an unpatched system is an easier target for cybercriminals, so it would be the most targeted network for cybercriminals. Updating and patching your systems ensures you have the most up-to-date network protections.   

Firewall protection: Your employees aren’t the only way you can protect your business from cyber threats; a firewall is helpful, too! A firewall is a barrier between internal to external threats as well as internal to internal threats. SMBs can configure firewalls to analyze and control incoming and outgoing network traffic, providing an additional layer of traffic and defense against unauthorized access.     

Continuous monitoring and auditing: A firewall won’t cut it as your only protection for cyberattacks at the end of the day, though. Continuous monitoring and auditing of your SMB will allow you to detect a cyberattack before it happens. Continuous monitoring and auditing are essential for an SMB because a cyberattack could be crippling to your business and makes it difficult to recover.  

At Vertek, we offer multiple MDR levels that provide continuous monitoring and detection for your SMB. We will also help your SMB recover from a cyberattack.   

Now that we have covered some of the strategies you can implement to prevent a cyber-attack, we will cover solutions to implement if your business suffers a cyberattack.   

Data encryption: When you utilize data encryption for your SMB, you are ensuring that even if a cybercriminal gets into your data, it is still protected and unreadable.      

Regular data backups: In the event of a cyberattack, a regular backup won’t necessarily protect your data, but it’s good to do so in case your data does get corrupted. With regular backups, you can ensure that business can continue as normal in the event of a cyberattack. The most important thing to do before a cyberattack is to have a plan for when one happens.    

Incident response plan: An Incident Response plan is a written document that helps your organization before, during, and after a suspected or confirmed security incident. Ensuring your SMB has a proper incident response plan is the most crucial strategy that you can take for your business. Most SMBs will fall victim to cybercrimes, so it’s essential to have an incident response plan for when that happens.      

Collaborate with cybersecurity experts: Sometimes, you need more than just having an IT department for your SMB. A cybersecurity expert can help ensure proper protection and help you recover faster. At Vertek, we have services that will help you prepare, protect, and recover.

Contact Vertek today to learn more about our services. 

References:

https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/manage-your-business/strengthen-your-cybersecurity