5 Steps to Develop Good Security Practices

Did you know that more than a third of companies have experienced recent cyber attacks?

According to a 2023 Deloitte Center for Controllership poll, 34.5 percent of polled executives reported that their accounting and financial data had been targeted by cyber attackers in the prior 12 months. 12.5 percent of respondents said there had been more than one attack that year.

These attacks are coming, even against small companies. It’s incredibly important to be proactive to prevent damage to your business and limit your exposure to the effects of cyber attacks. Here are five things you can do to mitigate the threats.

Employee Training and Awareness

Comprehensive training programs are a major weapon in any company’s arsenal against cyber threats. Programs designed to educate employees about potential risks and best practices can shore up a key link in the security chain: human actors. Implementing regular employee training sessions raises awareness about common cyber threats such as phishing scams, malware, and social engineering attacks.

Training sessions should cover password security, safe internet usage, and recognition of suspicious emails. The more sensitive the information your company deals with, the more emphasis on handling sensitive information securely should factor into training. By equipping employees with the knowledge and skills to identify and respond to potential threats, businesses can significantly reduce the likelihood of successful attacks.

Training can underscore the importance of maintaining up-to-date software and security patches on all devices and systems within the organization. Employees learn how to recognize signs of outdated software or potential vulnerabilities and take appropriate action to address these risks promptly.

Reinforcement of Best Practices

It’s not enough to just train employees on how to recognize threats. It’s critical to develop a culture of good security in which best practices are followed and employees actively evaluate their environment for threats.

Regular reinforcement of cybersecurity training through workshops and ongoing communication helps to keep cybersecurity awareness at the forefront of employees’ minds. By fostering a culture of cybersecurity awareness and accountability, businesses can create a strong defense against cyber threats and minimize the potential impact of security breaches. Investment in comprehensive training, reinforcement, and workflow analysis are proactive and essential steps to protect against the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats.

Strengthen Network Security

An excellent way to address the risk of cyber attacks is to strengthen security practices for your network. Every account and device should have strong and unique passwords to avoid giving attackers additional access should they manage to compromise a login password.

It’s also crucial to use anti-virus and anti-malware software that is appropriate to the level of required security. The timely application of updates to these systems will close gaps and vulnerabilities to new attacks as they are discovered.

Implementing firewalls will allow the monitoring and controlling of network traffic to detect and prevent intrusion. A key tool that businesses may be well served to employ is a security incident and event management system (SIEM), an application that allows the speedy recognition of threats and vulnerabilities to avoid costly disruption of business.

Store Data Securely

Data storage and backup is a key component of best security practice and might be required if a business is storing personally identifiable information or handling other sensitive data.

Businesses can securely store their data by implementing encryption techniques to protect sensitive information both in transit and at rest. Utilizing secure cloud storage solutions with robust encryption and access controls can ensure data integrity and confidentiality, though businesses will need to select their cloud storage solutions carefully to ensure all their security requirements will be met by the solution.

Regularly backing up data provides redundancy and facilitates quick recovery in case of a cyber attack or data breach. In the event of a breach, it might be necessary to restore data from the last good backup and timely regular backups are necessary to avoid loss of critical business data.

Limiting access to sensitive data is also important to exercise best practices, Users should be limited to only necessary access to prevent unauthorized access of sensitive data or the accidental or deliberate sharing of confidential information. These measures can help businesses minimize threats to their valuable data assets.

Have a Plan for Incident Response

A formal plan to respond to a cyber attack is essential to guide a business when attacked, even if the attack didn’t appear to be significant. Businesses have lots of sensitive data, the security of which might be regulated by laws or government mandate. Developing a plan to detect, contain, eradicate, and recover from a cyber incident may be a requirement of doing business and is a great idea even if not required by regulation.

Key components in an incident response plan include procedures for internal and external communication, methods for detection and analysis of an incident, steps to contain and eradicate threats when detected, recovery plans, and steps to preserve evidence and define a chain of custody for legal action that might be warranted from the attack.

Processes for conducting a post-incident review or debriefing to analyze the effectiveness of the response efforts, identify lessons learned, and make recommendations for improving future incident response capabilities are also great ideas for inclusion in an incident response plan.

Getting Help on the Path to Secure Practices

It can seem overwhelming to address security concerns, especially for small businesses with limited resources. It is often difficult for IT departments with stretched resources to take on additional work to analyze, plan, and address gaps in security practices and protect against all incoming threats. That’s why it’s important to consider getting help from security experts to make sure you are taking all necessary steps to protect your business.

Working with experts like those at Mission Compliant will allow business leaders to understand the entire scope of their security requirements and to work on a customized plan to get compliant with all their security requirements. With experts in training, compliance, and the latest security standards, Mission Compliant is a trusted partner to empower businesses to be secure against new threats.

With a solid plan, excellent training, and intentional reinforcement for all employees, your business will be on the path to a culture of best security practices. Contact Mission Compliant for a free discussion about your security needs at info@missioncompliant.com today.