Almost all companies today are already using digital platforms to manage their business. They use computers connected to the internet to access the web or company applications.
This activity often attracts the attention of cyber hackers. They are trying to find a way to break into the security system on the application or website to see company data or customer data stored in it.
If this is done successfully, your company will incur some significant losses. First, the company will lose its long-established reputation. Secondly, the legal consequences of cyber breaches, and thirdly, the expenditure of funds on system recovery costs.
That is why you need to prioritize IT security in your company.
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What is Cyber Attack?
Cyberattack is an attack that involves computers, the internet, or other computer technology. Some examples of cyberattacks are:
- DDoS Attack
- Ransomware
- Phishing
- Data Breach and much more
Cyberattacks can be carried out individually or through organized groups. The goal of carrying out these attacks is to make money. However, some hackers also carry out cyberattacks for other purposes, such as fun, revenge, etc.
9 Ways to Prevent Cyber Attacks in Companies
1. Penetration testing
The first way to prevent cyberattack is to do regular penetration testing. You need to do this to determine whether the website or application system developed and used by your company has vulnerabilities that hackers can exploit.
Imagine if you have taken various preventive measures to improve IT security at your company, such as using an antivirus or a strong password, but on the other hand, the company's website has vulnerabilities that you don't fix. This will certainly provide a gap for hackers to get into the system.
Basically, penetration testing (pentest) is a security testing method on IT infrastructure that is carried out in ways that are often used by hackers.
The pentesters (people who perform penetration testing) will simulate cyberattacks to determine the security level of the system you are developing. From these tests, you can find out what weaknesses or vulnerabilities exist in the system to make immediate improvements.
Currently, many companies provide penetration testing services that you can use. Make sure you choose a pentester that is certified, experienced, and provides a clear report.
2. Carry out employee training
Employees who are not trained or do not have good cybersecurity awareness can be one of the vulnerabilities in the company. Therefore, a company needs to train its employees to be more aware of the signs of a cyberattack.
In addition, they also have to know how to prevent cyberattacks from happening in their company.
You need to know that apart from a weak security system, many cybersecurity breaches are also caused by human error. One type of attack that is widely used to trick the target is to run a Social Engineering attack. The hackers carry out these attacks because they understand that humans or users are the weakest links in a security system.
Due to the constantly evolving state of technology, hackers will continue to look for new ways to breach your security system. Therefore, employee training on cybersecurity should not be done only once.
You can provide regular cyber training to keep up with the latest technology developments and ensure employees don't create security vulnerabilities.
Employees should also have their own initiatives to be more aware of cybersecurity, especially when accessing company data or in an office environment.
3. Always update all the software used
Because you are too preoccupied with business, you may overlook the importance of keeping all company software up to date. In fact, this software update is critical because it is one method of preventing cyberattacks.
Software developers typically update the version of the system they create to improve the software's quality in terms of both performance and security.
If hackers discover that you are still using outdated software with a code flaw, they can exploit the vulnerability to gain access to sensitive data. As a result, data leakage can occur to the detriment of companies and customers.
WannaCry Ransomware attack became one of the biggest cyberattacks that cost many companies because they did not update the system they were using. The case occurred in 2017 and made many companies lose data. You certainly don't want that to happen in your company. Therefore, perform regular software updates.
4. Use a strong password
The use of a strong password is one way to prevent cyberattacks in the company. Therefore, you and other staff in the company need to implement the use of strong passwords for all systems or applications that are used. Different applications should not use the same password.
To generate a strong password, you can follow these tips:
- Use long characters
- Combine passwords using numbers, symbols, uppercase, and lowercase letters
- Do not use personal information as a password, such as date of birth.
You also need to avoid using bad passwords for your system. Examples of passwords that you need to avoid are:
- 123456
- password
- 123456789
- 12345678
- 111111
- 1234567
- sunshine
- qwerty
- iloveyou
5. Create a System Security Plan
The System Security Plan is a formal document that provides an overview of the security requirements for an information system and contains an explanation of the security controls that need to be planned to meet these requirements.
The document will include details on how to restrict access for authorized users, ensure employees follow security practices and explain how employees should respond when security breaches occur.
If you have IT staff who can create a good SSP, you can ask for help. However, if there is no IT staff who can make it, you should use the services of a consultant because a poorly made SSP will create vulnerabilities in your company.
6. Regular encryption and backup of sensitive data
In the digital age, data is an important asset for any business. Regular data backup will help companies to recover lost data when a cyberattack occurs. Data backup will also protect your data in case of damage to the computer system.
You can backup data to an external drive or other portable devices such as a USB flash drive or USB stick. For more secure backups, you can also save them to the cloud which uses encryption when transferring and storing your data.
7. Use a secure hosting service
If you manage a company website, make sure the website uses a secure hosting service so that your data will be protected. You also need to make sure that the hosting service you are using can provide protection against cyberattacks such as DDoS.
8. Using a Web Application Firewall (WAF)
To protect your company's web, you also need a Web Application Firewall, which is a firewall for HTTP applications. This WAF will function as a gatekeeper that protects the company's website or web application.
When you use this WAF, the system will block and deny access when it finds suspicious traffic or traffic that indicates a threat to the security of the company's website. Thus, the website will be protected from various cyber threats such as cross-site scripting (XSS), cross-site forgery, SQL injection, DDoS, etc.
9. Use security software
One type of cyberattack that affects many companies is malware infection, whether in the form of ransomware attacks, worms, trojans, or others. Malware or malicious software is intentionally designed to damage your device, steal sensitive data, and other malicious purposes.
Based on information obtained from ptsecurity.com, in the third quarter of 2020, ransomware attacked companies with increasing frequency. Most hackers spread ransomware by psychological manipulation using the COVID-19 topic as bait.
So to avoid this from happening, there is nothing wrong if you use security software such as anti-ransomware or antivirus on your devices.
Conclusion
Today's large and small companies need to start paying attention to cybersecurity because anyone can become a target of hacker attacks. You can start by doing regular maintenance to ensure that the website or application system you are using is really strong against cyberattacks.
You also need to increase the security awareness of your employees to avoid social engineering attacks that often occur in offices.
1 comment
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