Protection from hackers

Your business is fascinating. So fascinating that thousands of people are trying to learn everything about your organization on a daily basis. The problem is, you don’t want these people knowing your business’ information. Even worse, they are using that information in a way that you wouldn’t appreciate.

Every day, we encounter a rising number of threats to our digital information. Malicious software programs attempt to destroy our data, while social-engineering attacks encourage us to give up that information freely to someone we don’t know. Today everyone has a multitude of devices connected to the internet, including smartphones, thermostats, alarm systems and even lightbulbs. That connectivity allows hackers to obtain our business data and create mayhem.

Most computers have anti-virus software installed. Unfortunately, anti-virus software may not be able to thwart today’s myriad threats. Creating a secured computing environment requires protection through each layer, while maintaining employee productivity.

Here are the key components to protecting your business:

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n Hosted email scanning: Cloud-hosted email scanning and protection solutions that filter inbound mail for viruses, spam and general malware can be put in place to reduce risk before any messages are delivered. This is not only economical but adheres to many compliance requirements placed on businesses.

n Firewall: The firewall, or edge protection, is your first line of defense. It masks your network and computers from the internet and controls the flow of data in and out of your environment. The days of “set it and forget it” firewalls from big-box retailers are long gone. Managed firewalls with active monitoring are the new standard. Geo-blocking creates virtual walls around suspect countries and continents to limit hackers’ ability to connect to you. Intrusion detection alerts you on suspicious activity and administrators can quickly close down any connections.

n Logging: Logging is where you utilize a security service that is actively capturing and reviewing what is happening on the network from a security perspective to monitor suspicious activity.

n Web filtering: Centrally administered web filtering puts network administrators in the driver’s seat to block out web danger.

n Anti-virus: All devices in the environment should have an anti-virus product that contains a small footprint and is continually updated. Anti-virus products should also be put on mobile devices.

n Backup, backup and more backup: Backups can be expensive and slow, but can save a business. Losing data to ransomware can be completely avoided with the proper backup. An image-based backup (which backs up the whole computer and not just the data) with long retentions is best because it has the ability to back up to the cloud. Cloud copies can be accessed securely anywhere.

n Education of your users: This is the most important layer, and ironically the lowest cost. Teaching users about how and what to communicate electronically is of paramount importance. They are the last, and often best, line of defense.

Remember that each layer of security is crucial and skimping on one layer could create holes in your overall cybersecurity strategy. •

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