The Rules of Resilience: 5 Ways To Ensure Your Business Is Resilient To Cyber Threats

Picture: Kenny Eliason / Unsplash

Many business owners assume they’ll never be victims of cyber attacks. However, according to a Global Risks Report by the World Economic Forum, cybersecurity failure is one of the top-rated risks in terms of the likelihood of it happening. 

Ignoring the risk won’t protect you from it. Instead, all businesses should implement a plan for building cyber resilience and prioritizing cyber security. If your company hasn’t got a strategy for preventing cyber attacks and managing them when they happen, get started with the following actions: 

Align with a Data Protection Service Provider

If you’re not an expert in data protection and cybercrime prevention, align with people who are. Contact a company offering data protection and managed it services who are experts in identifying threats and implementing strategies to build cyber resilience for clients and learn more about how they can monitor your network, deploy security solutions, respond to incidents, and help keep your data safe in the event of a cyber attack.

Such companies can offer a range of cyber resilience and recovery services to identify threats, protect your business, and recover your data if it becomes compromised in an attack. You can then enjoy peace of mind knowing you can focus on daily operations while someone else manages your cyber security and data protection.   

Install Software Updates

According to a 2021 National Cybersecurity Alliance Cybersecurity Behaviors and AttitudesReport, approximately one-third of us don’t update our computers due to productivity loss and inconvenient timing. Seeing that your software programs require yet another update, you might be tempted to ignore the notification and take care of it when you have more time. However, software updates and patches are crucial for fixing security vulnerabilities cyber criminals can otherwise leverage. 

While you’re in the process of installing any necessary updates, make sure the manufacturers are still supporting all software you’re running. You might be more vulnerable to attacks if they no longer produce patches. That is why most IT experts recommend upgrading from legacy software. 

Use Multi-Factor Authentication

If someone guesses your password and accesses your private business information, there’s potential for significant losses and reputational damage. However, you can protect your business from cyber threats with multi-factor authentication. 

Multi-factor authentication means a person can only access your computer or its applications if they present two or more pieces of evidence to determine their validity. A password might be your first layer of protection, but you might also have to enter a code sent to your mobile device or email account, a secure USB key, a memorized pin, or a fingerprint. 

Back-Up Your Data

If you only have one copy of your business data on a local server, what would you do if you lost it? Many businesses would take a significant financial hit. However, by backing up your data, you can enjoy more cyber threat resiliency.

Rely on a backup service provider to assist with this process, or consider transitioning from local servers to the cloud for flexibility, scalability, and security. AWS are one of the biggest providers of cloud services, making them a solid choice if you want to explore this option. With the additional help of vulnerability scanning in aws, your data should be protected no matter what happens.

Have a Recovery Plan

A disaster recovery plan might not seem important if you’ve never had a security threat before, but it’s crucial to have one in place before that day comes. A data recovery plan involves identifying the biggest data threats, defining your recovery goals, and testing and updating your plan. If you’re unsure how to put a data recovery plan in place, consult your local cyber resilience and recovery specialists for help. 

It’s easy to assume that you’ll never be the victim of a cybercrime, but tens of thousands of businesses are impacted yearly. So, it’s crucial that you take the time to review your current security practices and put a plan in place to ensure your business is resilient to cyber threats.