Guest post by Stacey Horne, Director of Business Development, HORNE Cyber

The challenges we face in today’s business world are substantial. One of the fastest growing, ever-evolving threats involve cyber attacks.

Every day, bad cyber actors successfully attack organizations and individuals.

They create havoc, soliciting demands and disrupting organizations that directly impact lives and corporate wellbeing.

The most recent example of disruption came from the SolarWinds software hack that is now estimated to affect nearly 18,000 customers.

The sheer scale of this attack included a forced shutdown of government agencies to ransomware attacks on private businesses.

One thing we always know is that cybercrime does not discriminate by industry, company size or location.

Your cyber risk is much higher if you live in a “reactive mode” status. It’s dangerous and can cause immediate and long-lasting harm.

Proactive tips to reduce your cyber risk today

There are no 100% guarantees to protect from all risk, but there are effective strategies that stack layers of cyber protection.

The current work-from-home (WFH) era has opened new attack vectors. These tips are a starting point for individual employees in WFH mode. The goal here is to lower the probability of a cyber attack by becoming a harder target.

1. Resist the Click
This is crucial. Phishing email campaigns have exploded in frequency and complexity since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Don’t click on embedded links or respond if it’s an unknown sender, no matter how legitimate they look. Seek independent verification outside the bounds of the email in question.

2. Encrypt Your Data
Ensure use of encryption software that scrambles information you send over the internet.

A “lock” icon on the status bar of your internet browser helps ensure your information will be safe when it’s transmitted. Remember to look for the lock before you send information online.

3. Use TwoFactor Authentication
This represents a second layer of security to protect online accounts by requiring two types of information from a user.

Information can include a password or PIN, an email account, or biometrics before the user can log in. When it comes to apps or websites involving personal identification, always enable two-factor authentication.

4. Protect your Passwords
Keep your passwords private. You should consider using a passphrase (or sentence), then add in punctuation and capitalization to make it tougher for bad actors to decipher.

5. Avoid Oversharing
Bad actors are trolling social media accounts to find clues to passwords or answers to personal security questions. Limit the data you give them and avoid “oversharing” personal details.

Physical security for your data center

Along with the cyber security measures you should be taking, make sure that your servers and data storage are also secure.

In order to keep your data safe, FIBERTOWN uses layers of security controls and system checks built into the structure of our data centers. From the building to the software systems and personnel, we use a multi-pronged approach to physical and digital security.

Important measures we take include: construction materials that ensure hurricane resistance, our 24/7 network operations staff and on-site security, and a 100% uptime service level agreement to provide redundant power and cooling.

Successfully implementing these tips is a good start to stacking layers of cyber resiliency. Finding a data center that offers critical physical security is paramount as well.

Just a few proactive measures could make a difference.

Ask us about cybersecurity solutions for your business when you contact us today.

About our guest blogger:
Stacey serves as the Director of Business Development for HORNE Cyber. He has more than 35 years of experience in incorporating technology to facilitate business growth, efficiency, and risk mitigation. Stacey helps enable clients to use technology as a lever to achieve enhanced business value.