Enhancing Cybersecurity Measures for Modern Business IT Systems
Hackers are evolving, but cybersecurity solutions have to keep pace. In the past few years, cyber threats have become bigger and more sophisticated. Businesses of all sizes are under attack at an alarming rate, and cyber damage is costing companies hundreds of billions of dollars each year. The truth is that the majority of companies are not ready for the tools that today's hackers have at their disposal.
The good news is that with the proper tools, you can protect your business IT services and secure your company's most valuable assets.
In this guide, we will cover:
Why cybersecurity is so important right now
The protections that you need for your business IT
The importance of people in the process
A multi-layer approach to strong cybersecurity
Why cybersecurity is so important right now
It used to be that cybercriminals were only after the largest enterprises with the most money. But times have changed. Criminals are going after businesses of all sizes and attacking any vulnerabilities they can find. Smaller businesses are particularly at risk as they often have less robust security.
IBM's latest data breach report revealed that the average cost of a data breach has reached $4.88 million in 2024. This is a 10% increase over the previous year. For an attack to cause such a serious impact to your business's budget, you must act to ensure that this does not happen to you.
Cyber attacks can occur in many ways, and sometimes without even realizing it until it is too late. The average downtime cost in the US is $5,600 an hour. But in Atlanta, it can be even higher, around $5,900 per hour. Take down your business, and you are losing money at an accelerated rate. On top of that, your productivity is limited, you struggle to maintain any credibility with your customers, and you don't have the funds to make ends meet. Protect your business today with reliable Atlanta IT services, who can offer you the most up-to-date business IT services.
Businesses are not only under attack more frequently, but the attacks themselves are becoming more sophisticated. Ransomware has been on the rise, and other forms of cybercrime are becoming increasingly complex.
In fact, businesses are now attacked on a global level over 2,200 times every single day! It is that easy to find companies that are not prepared.
The protections that you need for your business IT
Putting in place a robust cybersecurity strategy is not easy. If you try to make a patchwork of security products, then you will not cover all of the vulnerabilities in your system.
Start with the Basics. This sounds simplistic but focusing on access controls, keeping software up-to-date, and having the right network segmentation in place are all things that businesses need but that are often ignored in the first place.
Skipping the basic foundation of solid security and jumping straight to expensive solutions will only make matters worse in the long run. Every link in the chain of security needs to be solid, otherwise, there will be a problem.
Run Vulnerability Tests. The best defense is to stay aware of potential threats. This means that you need to run regular security audits and vulnerability testing. The only way to be aware of any issues is to run security checks.
Here are some foundational tools that you should implement in your cybersecurity strategy.
Enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) across all of your systems and applications.
Run endpoint detection and response solutions on all devices.
Conduct regular backups and store the data off-site.
Monitor your networks with detection and response systems.
Encrypt data transmissions for sensitive data.
Zero-Trust Model. Years ago, the industry thought that putting up a perimeter fence around your network was enough to keep it secure. This is simply not the case any more. Hackers have become far more advanced in finding ways to compromise a system.
A zero-trust model of security will verify every user and device that requests access to your network and will not make any assumptions. This significantly reduces the amount of damage that a breach can do.
The importance of people in the process
When you think of cybersecurity solutions, your mind will jump straight to the technical controls and policies in place. But do not forget about the human element of this. According to Verizon, a staggering 68% of data breaches contain a human element such as social engineering, errors, or misuse.
If your employees are not trained properly, then they can be your worst nightmare when it comes to securing your cybersecurity.
There are many types of social engineering, but the most common and one of the most successful is via email. Spear-phishing is an attack where criminals target an individual at a company. The attacker is normally someone that the employee knows or at least has heard of, making it a very believable request for the recipient to click on a link or provide their login details.
Employees who are tech-savvy and even intelligent people can fall victim to this simple mistake. If you are not regularly training your staff to be aware of this type of attack, then you are putting your business at risk. Security awareness training needs to become a top priority for your cybersecurity.
Human training has to be ongoing and not a one-off exercise. Phishing attacks can change their approach and so needs to be checked and varied from time to time as well.
A recent report found that nearly half of all employees use the same credentials for multiple applications within the same company. This means that an attack on one system could easily provide access to several other applications.
Password managers and strict password policies are one of the solutions that are available to counter this behavior.
A multi-layer approach to strong cybersecurity
Cybersecurity experts have used the term "defense in depth" for many years. It means that security controls need to be layered. The idea is that if one layer of security is compromised, the next one will protect your company.
The first layer of cybersecurity defense is your perimeter security. This includes everything like your firewalls, intrusion prevention, and email filtering. However, you should not rely on this alone as it is becoming much easier to bypass these types of controls.
Hackers are far more experienced in finding ways to compromise a system and will even use social engineering as one of the main tools in their arsenal.
Endpoint protection is the second layer of defense. Endpoints are devices and things that are used to gain access to your system. It could be a PC or a mobile device. Each one needs to be monitored and managed with solutions such as endpoint detection and response.
Network segmentation is another vital part of a strong security foundation. This is important as if one area of your network is compromised, then you want to make it difficult for the intruder to move around and target other areas.
Backups and recovery are essential and often the last line of defense. Ransomware is specifically designed to target backup systems, so you have to ensure that you have the right security here too.
Wrapping things up
Cybersecurity is not getting any easier. Attacks are on the rise, and they are also becoming far more complex, and potentially much more costly to your company. Every business out there is a target for hackers, and those who are not well prepared are in for a nasty shock.
Investing in the right business IT services and strong cybersecurity is not a luxury, it is a must in today's connected world. The potential damage of a breach is far worse than the cost of proper security.
So, remember these points:
A strategic cybersecurity plan is a must.
Make sure that people are trained properly.
Vulnerability assessments will help you to identify weaknesses.
A zero-trust model of security is not a nice-to-have but essential.
Backup and recovery solutions will protect you in the end.
You can act now to protect your business, and you should. But if you do not have the time or the skills to do this properly, then you should look for a trusted partner to help you.